Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, New Road, Worcester (day two)

Worcestershire 200: Cullen 64, Libby 55; Procter 5-63 & 55-3: Conway 3-19

Northamptonshire 289: Zaib 110, Sales 52; Waite 3-31, Allison 3-44

Worcestershire (3pts) trail Northamptonshire (4pts) by 34 runs

Match scorecard

Saif Zaib made a superb 110 before a late Harry Conway burst ripped through Worcestershire’s top order to send Northamptonshire into pole position on day two of their County Championship game at New Road.

A second century of the summer from Zaib, supported by a controlled 52 from James Sales, saw the visitors establish an 89-run lead over Worcestershire, whose fightback was led by Matthew Waite’s 3-31.

Bowled out for 289, seamer Conway ensured Northants took full control of the contest late in the day in a spell of 3-19.

The Pears closed 55-3, trailing by 34 runs in their second innings, as the promotion chasing visitors tightened their grip.

Tom Taylor struck just three balls into the morning when he wrapped Ricardo Vasconcelos on the pad for 13, but skipper Luke Procter and Calvin Harrison pushed on for the visitors.

Harrison helped add 50 for the second wicket, but his promising start was curtailed by Adam Finch for 24.

Northants were checked at 68-3 when Procter, who had not long been dropped by Adam Hose, edged Waite to third slip having faced 72 balls for his 21.

Zaib smashed two fours and a six in an over that cost 17 from spinner Usama Mir, but Northants lost a fourth wicket of the morning session when George Bartlett edged behind off Ben Allison cheaply.

On 106-4 at lunch, Zaib registered a 66-ball half-century 30 minutes into the afternoon session as the visitors took control of the match.

Under clear skies Zaib and partner Sales made hay, scoring at a fluent rate on their way to surpassing Worcestershire’s first innings score.

Zaib registered a second County Championship of the summer in fittingly exuberant style as he skipped down the wicket to slam a 14th four of his 137-ball innings.

The partnership was worth 133 as Sales notched a controlled fifty of his own from 81 balls, but his 82nd delivery was his last as he edged Taylor to slip.

Resuming the evening session 233-5, Waite proved the catalyst for the hosts, taking two wickets in the space of three balls that ended Zaib’s innings, courtesy of a smart Dan Lategan catch in the deep and saw the back of Louis Kimber for a second ball duck.

Ben Sanderson was bowled by Mir for seven, but Lewis McManus made a handy late 30, taking Northants up to 289 before Allison wrapped up proceedings.

With 24 overs remaining in the day, Australian quick Conway quickly claimed the scalp of Lategan and a superb Zaib catch at midwicket accounted for Rehaan Edavalath who was soon followed by Jake Libby for 12.

The seamer looked to have secured a fourth late on, only to be denied after hitting the top of Adam Hose’s off-stump but failing to dislodge the bail, before play was suspended due to bad light at 6:50pm.

ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.