[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Northampton (day four):
Northamptonshire 442 & 263-9 dec: Keogh 74, Newton 48: Parry 3-59
Lancashire 315& 275-4: Bohannon 65*, Hameed 55, Vilas 53*, Davies 53
Northants (12 pts) drew with Lancashire (10 pts)
Scorecard
Lancashire returned to the top of Division Two in the County Championship after escaping with a draw against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Resuming on 214-6, Northants batted on before declaring on 263-9, setting a notional 391 to win in 89 overs.

But they could prise out just four wickets as four Lancashire batsmen posted half-centuries.

England opener Haseeb Hameed went past 50 for just the second time this season as the visitors reached 275-4.

After failing to make any further breakthrough with the new ball, Northants skipper Adam Rossington shook hands with opposite number Dane Vilas at 18:00 BST.

Vilas, by then, was on 53, having shared a 90-run unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Josh Bohannon, who was on 65.

First-innings centurion Alex Davies earlier added 53 to his first-innings career-best 147 to end up with 200 runs in the match.

How things stand
Lancashire, who are now seven points clear of Glamorgan at the top, host Sussex in their next match, beginning on Saturday.

But the Red Rose have been hit by another injury, with Saqib Mahmood suffering an abdominal problem which will force him out of this Sunday's England Lions game against Australia A at Canterbury.

They went into the match at Northampton without Jimmy Anderson, Tom Bailey and Liam Livingstone, although spinner Matt Parkinson is now fit for selection again.

Northants are now sixth, but just 12 points off the third promotion place,now occupied by Derbyshire, who they face in their next fixture from Sunday.

Just 29 points separate the bottom eight clubs in Division Two, with just one round of fixtures to go before the T20 Blast break.

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v


All to rare visitors to the citadel of accumulating money, a big welcome to Sussex by the Sea, it is our only meeting this season in Division 2 due to the utter farcical arrangements of playing some sides once.
At the moment Sussex are fourth having won two matches and are on 99 points 35 behind us. They have recently signed Chopra from Essex on a three match loan period, he should play against us. Not many star names Luke Wright tends to play mainly one dayers, add into that Archer and Chris Jordan and highly rated Phil Salt.
Gone are the days of Suttle, Oakman, Parks, Dexter and the Nawab of Pataudi from days gone by,

Lancs down to bare bones in the seam department for this one, no Anderson and Mahmood abdominal strain, Bailey knee and Anderson ECB resting, speaking of the ECB which Divs decided to schedule a four day game to coincide with the World Cup final.
Will be there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.