Skipper Vasconcelos says Glamorgan triumph justifies selection rotation policy

The stand-in skipper put the finishing touch on a hard four days’ graft for an inexperienced County team, ensuring a first win of the summer, and going some way to justifying Ripley’s selection policy in four-day cricket in 2020.

With the regular season decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the England & Wales Cricket Board came up with the one-off regionalised Bob Willis Trophy, giving every county five first-class fixtures to play.

From the get-go, Ripley insisted Northants were going to concentrate their efforts on the upcoming T20 Blast, and use the four-day competition as a development exercise.

Senior players such as Alex Wakely, Richard Levi, Gareth Berg and Josh Cobb have been sidelined as youngsters such as Emilio Gay, Charlie Thurston, Ben Curran and Saif Zaib have been given extended opportunities.

Two heavy defeats and one draw in the opening three matches, with the batters in particular struggling, did not go down well with the club’s supporters, with Ripley revealing last week he had been sent letters from fans telling him they did not agree with the policy. But it all came good this week as Glamorgan were beaten by six wickets.

Thurston led the way with a first innings century and then a 50 in the second dig, while Curran led the charge in the first knock and Gay hit an unbeaten 77 to steer the team over the finishing line in the second.

Add to the mix the fact that rookie seam bowler Jack White finished with career-best figures of eight for 83, and the fact the side was skippered by 21-year-old Vasconcelos, and that policy of giving players their chance to shine finally came to fruition.

And the captain of the victorious team said the win showed the team and players have been learning fast, and that this year will stand the squad in good stead for next season’s County Championship Division One campaign.

“With this tournament we always had the idea that we were going to rotate, that was always going to be our goal and to five people a few chances,” said Vasconcelos, who skippered the team with Adam Rossington rested ahead of the Vitality T20 Blast campaign.

“People are starting to take those chances, which is really good for next season.

“Some may say that we are a bit thin on batting, but if you look at the names that were missing from this team and the people who performed here, it shows we do have some really good depth.

“I am over the moon for Charlie, Emilio and Ben, and Jack White as well taking eight wickets, and there were some people really putting their hand up in this game.

“I think there were career-bests for Charlie and Emilio, and Ben missed his by one run, and it is always great for people to come in and do well, and it is also going to be good for the county in general. I am really happy for everybody.”

It was a deserved win for Northants who dominated their visitors for most of the match, but there were still moments of serious concern for skipper Vasconcelos, with lower order recoveries in both innings being an issue.

In the first knock, Callum Taylor hit 106 from 94 balls to lift the Welshmen from 135 for nine to 259 all out, and then in the second innings Marchant de Lange crashed 113 from just 78 balls and Dan Douthwaite 86 from 92 as Glamorgan went from 60 for eight to 261 all out.

From looking as though they were going to win by an innings, in what seemed the blink of an eye Northants had a 189 target to chase on day four.

Storm Francis did its best to ensure the County would be made to pay, but the clouds cleared long enough for Gay and Thurston to set up the win, and Vasconcelos was delighted to land his first win as skipper.

“I really enjoyed captaining 17 wickets in the game, but struggled for three, the last one in the first innings and then the two in the second,” he said.

“But it is all a learning curve, and maybe some day I will get the captaincy back again, but for now I will just take the lessons from it and move on.”

So, as a skipper, how do you try to stop a batsman like de Lange as he launches such a brutal counter-attack?

“We tried everything, we tried left-arm spin, right-arm spin, we changed ends, tried bumping them, making them hit to the long side, but both of them had an answer for everything,” said Vasconcelos.

“Sometimes it goes like that, and at times he wasn’t even hitting the ball very well and it was going for six.

“That does happen sometimes, but the way we bounced back with the bat was the most pleasing thing.

“We went out with a lot of pressure, having to bat really well with the disappointment of initially thinking we would not have to bat at all, to having to bat and bat well.”