Ripley confident injury-hit county can compete against leaders Lancashire

Ripley’s men head to Old Trafford for the clash with the County Championship Division Two pacesetters on Monday.

Lancashire lead the division by 28 points, with Northants 68 points behind in fourth.

The Wantage Road outfit will be without a number of key men for this week’s encounter, with Stephen Peters, Rob Newton and David Willey all missing.

But Ripley is confident Northants can still push Lancashire to the limit.

“We’ll go there and we’ve got a few injuries,” said the head coach. “We’ve done well so far with injuries, but we’ve lost a few.

“Stephen Peters is out, Rob Newton is out, both with finger injuries. David Willey has an ankle injury but we would have rested him this week anyway.

“We’ve had to have a bit of a think about selection, but we’ll roll up there and compete well against Lancashire.”