COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Cheltenham:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY ONE: Northants 175-6, Gloucestershire 147 (Northants 3pts, Glos 2pts)
20 - 23 July 2009
Northants opened up a narrow lead over Gloucestershire as 16 wickets fell on day one of the County Championship Division Two clash at Cheltenham.
Batting first after losing the toss, the home side were shot out for just 147, with David Lucas picking up 5-49.
Northants were then reduced to 39-4, with James Franklin taking two wickets.
But captain Nicky Boje (57 not out) shared stands of 52 with Alex Wakely (30) and 71 with Andrew Hall (41), as Northants reached 175-6 at the close.
When Gloucestershire opener Kadeer Ali was forced to retire hurt after being struck on the helmet by Johannes van der Wath, Lucas ripped through the home side's top order on his way to a season's best return.
William Porterfield was bowled and Hamish Marshall and Alex Gidman were both trapped lbw before Andrew Hall (2-20) dismissed Franklin and Steve Snell in quick succession.
Chris Taylor (51) and Richard Dawson (21) led the fightback with a sixth-wicket stand of 58, but when Taylor was caught behind by Riki Wessels off the bowling of Lucas, van der Wath (3-47) mopped up the tail.
But Northants were soon in trouble, with opener Ben Howgego trapped leg before in the first over by Steve Kirby for a duck, before Franklin removed Stephen Peters and Rob White.
But after Wessels was trapped lbw by Jon Lewis, Boje, who was caught in the slips off a Franklin no ball while on 42, led the recovery to be unbeaten at the close.
Pitch inspector John Jameson deemed that it was swing, rather than any problems with the Cheltenham pitch, that was mainly responsible for the flurry of wickets.
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