Ripley knows Northants are under pressure

Head coach David Ripley admits the heat is on at Northants after a hugely disappointing start to the season.
David Ripley knows the pressure is on at Northants (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)David Ripley knows the pressure is on at Northants (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
David Ripley knows the pressure is on at Northants (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

The County have won just two matches during the formative stage of this campaign, with both of those successes coming in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

They were eliminated from that competition, finishing third from bottom in the eight-team North Group.

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And their misery was compounded last week as their winless start to the Specsavers County Championship Division Two season continued with a six-wicket defeat to Leicestershire.

Northants have now lost four of their five four-day matches, with the other game a total washout against Durham.

The County currently prop up the table with just 19 points to their name.

And ahead of the return to action against Gloucestershire on Wednesday, Ripley said: “We do feel a little bit of pressure because we’re underperforming and no one likes that.

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“Myself, the staff, the players - we want to be doing better than we’re doing at the moment.

“We can’t bury our heads in the sand - we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to stick together.

“The next cricket we’ve got is two Championship matches back to back and then we’ve got a big T20 tournament.

“We’ve got some very good T20 players and we need to get out of our group and into the quarter-finals, where anything is possible.

“There’s nothing like scoring runs to breed confidence and there’s work going on behind the scenes.

“We’re trying our best to work better.”