Sadler insists Northants' season should be seen as a success

The County concluded their campaign with a 47-run defeat at home to Essex, following their 352-run loss at Somerset.

But Northants were still able to secure survival, finishing sixth of 10 teams in LV= County Championship Division One.

And Sadler said: “We're obviously disappointed to lose another close game that's gone to the last session on day four, but the chat we’ve just had in the dressing room with the lads is not so much about this game but about the season and how hard they've worked, and how well they've done over the course of a season.

"We've not covered ourselves in glory in our last four games in this last block, we’ve not played our best.

"But if you look at the whole thing and the bigger picture over the course of the full season, then I think we should be very, very proud.

"And it should be seen as a success."

Northants did manage to hold champions Surrey to a creditable draw earlier this month.

And Sadler said: “Again, another sign of our character.

"We’ve shown some tremendous character and fight throughout different stages of this year, a couple of times to save a game, a couple of times to go ahead and win a game.

"We spoke at the start of the season about how we were going to play our cricket, we looked at the way the leagues are set up, we looked at the way the point system is set up, we looked at the squad that we've got, and what our strengths are, we looked look at the wickets that we can produce. And we put that all together and came up with a strategy to try and play our best cricket. And I think we've done that. We've really done it.

"The strategy has worked.

"It’s our best season since 1995 in the Championship and I think that has to be a real pat on the back to everybody concerned, particularly the players but also the coaches, the support staff, the medical team. It's a big buy-in from everybody.

“Making ourselves harder to beat was part of the strategy.

"We said we have to prepare our minds to be able to play long games and be here on the last over of the last session of the last day. And we've done that. Eventually I feel that's taken its toll.

"We've had a lot of our games that have gone to that back end of day four. And over time, that takes its toll, so the fatigue kicks in, with a slightly smaller squad, etc, etc, etc. But that's what we set out to do at the start. That's what we've done.

"There's been some tremendous individual performances within that. But as a collective, the way we've gone about our cricket, the brand of cricket we've played has been great, not just in this format, either.

“There is so much there to build on with the way we've played our cricket. And behind the scenes as well.

"Not everybody sees all this but the way these lads train, the way they practice, the way they talk about their games, the way the coaches work with the players and I know that the players are really grateful for the support that they get.”