Northants face uphill task to deny dominant Gloucestershire victory at the County Ground

The County closed day three on 144 for two, still a huge 413 runs adrift of their visitors, who are chasing a first four-day win since September, 2022.

Skipper Luke Procter will resume his innings on 45 not out, with nightwatchman George Scrimshaw with him, unbeaten on two.

Emilio Gay made 74 from 118 balls as Northants made a good start to their mammoth survival mission, with the opener and Procter putting on 106 for the second wicket after the early departure of Ricardo Vasconcelos.

But it is going to take a lot of hard work and concentration to deny Gloucestershire that rare win.

Gay will be watching on from the pavilion balcony, but he believes that measured attack could to be the best form of defence for his team-mates.

“Losing Vasco early on, it was important that me and Proccy built a partnership we can work from tomorrow and getting a hundred partnership is important for the team – it’s just a shame it couldn’t have been a little bit more," he said.

“With myself and Vasco as openers, we naturally score quite freely and, if we just sit there and defend without going anywhere, the chances of having one with our name on it are quite high.

“When you’re looking to bat long, the most important thing is not to just soak up everything because for me, you play your best cricket when you’re looking to score.

"So putting the pressure back on the bowlers helps because they’re not settling on a length and they know that, if they miss, we’re going to score runs.

“It’s nice to bat with Luke, with his experience he comes in at three and just calms it a little bit.

"Obviously it was disappointing to fall but we go again on Monday as a team and I’ll be backing the lads from the changing room.

“Gloucestershire threw a lot at us. They’ve got a good variety in their attack with some pace and swing and left-arm spin so it was a good challenge. I think Zafar (Gohar) is going to play a big part, holding up an end, so we’ve got to have our plans against him.

“It’s the first time this season we’ve been in this situation.

"Last year we were in this position quite a bit and we didn’t come out of it with very much, so if we can take a draw under pressure, having not played our best cricket, that’ll give us a lot more confidence.”

Earlier in the day, Australian Test opener Cameron Bancroft ended 130 not out as Gloucestershire eased to 319 for five declared in their second innings, to set Northants 558 to win.

Graeme van Buuren hit 67 and Ben Charlesworth 49, while for Northants the pick of the bowlers was loan left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White who claimed three for 110.

Bancroft felt the Northants bowlers performed well though, and said: "They were always going to come hard and they made us work really hard for our runs but we set a really nice platform and after lunch we were able to increase that tempo a little bit.

“We were aiming to get (a lead of) around that 550 mark and have a little crack at them before the tea break. I thought Graeme (van Buuren) came out and played a really nice knock at the end there, so we’ve put a good score on the board.

“Ben Sanderson bowled a really nice spell this morning and there was movement both ways off the wicket. We probably didn’t get quite that same effect when we bowled, so we’re going to have to be really creative.

“That’s all part of the fun of playing to win in conditions like this and this is a really great opportunity for us. Hopefully we can execute with the ball and take the eight wickets we need.

“I think the late wicket of Emilio Gay just swung a little bit of momentum our way – as a bowling unit you want to feel like you’re making indents in the game by taking wickets, even if you have to work hard for them.

“It created that feeling for us at the back end of the day and we’ll show up again and do our best to win the game for Gloucestershire.”

Quotes courtesy of Ben Kosky