Skipper McManus delighted as Steelbacks get off the mark with win over Worcestershire

Having lost their opening four matches in Group A, Northants desperately needed a win to breathe some life into their 50-over campaign and they got it in style in front of a large crowd on the club's Community Day at Wantage Road.

Prithvi Shaw hit his third half-century of the competition, making 72 from just 59 balls, while Ricardo Vasconcelos (68 from 105) and George Bartlett (60 from 73) were also in the runs as the Steelbacks posted 295 for six, with Gus Miller striking 21 not out from just nine balls late on.

Worcestershire were never in the hunt in reply, as they slumped to 34 for five in the 15th over and couldn’t recover, eventually being bowled out for 165 despite an entertaining 57 from former Northants man Tom Taylor and 50 not out from Jake Libby.

Jack White bowled his 10 overs straight through and was excellent as he claimed two for 26, while there were three wickets apiece for Justin Broad and Saif Zaib, who cleared up the tail.

“This was definitely a good day," said McManus. "Besides from the win, we put things into practice which we’d spoken about as it's been a bit of a frustration.

"We were aware of those things earlier in the comp, but we couldn't quite put them into the matches.

"So yeah, it's pleasing that that happened in this game, and to win so convincingly was great."

And he added: "I think we had in mind a score of 270.

"If we could aim for that, and then hopefully get a few more, rather than aiming for 300 and falling well below that.

"So, I think at the break, we were really happy. We probably didn't really kick on in those last eight as we would have liked, if we're being really picky.

"But I think we got off to a brilliant start. And then Vasco just played through the innings.

"We know the importance of having a guy in throughout the innings, whoever that might be, so he did that really well.

"And then guys came in and played cameos along the way. We got up to a score, which we thought was competitive on that pitch."

On his team's impressive bowling performance, McManus said: "Ben Sanderson and Jack White are very, very hard to score off, let alone survive.

"Jack's picked up a few niggles throughout this competition and struggled to bowl his full 10 overs so far, so I managed to convince him to bowl his 10 on the reel.

"But yeah, those two up top always set the tone really well for us.

"And then it's just about making sure that as a unit, not just the guys with the ball in hand, but in the field, we keep that intensity, keep that momentum going into those middle overs, which I thought we did really well."

It was another good day for Broad, who has now taken seven wickets in three matches at an average of 19.14. and McManus singled out the all-rounder for praise.

“He bowled really well," said the wicket-keeper. "Broady’s definitely got talent with the ball, and we look to use him a little bit more.

"I thought he took the baton on after Sando at that end and he kept the pressure on which is always really important.

"I think teams know the threat we have with Jack and Sando with the new ball and Broady really just kept the pressure on. And what was nice was we obviously kept taking wickets but the run rate was going north."

The Steelbacks have three matches remaining in the competition, with Somerset next up at the County Ground on Wednesday (start 11am).

Quotes courtesy of Jeremy Blackmore