County heading to Cape Town for pre-season training camp

John Sadler and his players are to spend two weeks in Cape Town, where they will undergo a full training schedule as well as a batch of friendly matches.

The friendlies will see Northants take on Warwickshire, Durham UCCE and the Netherlands national side.

The whole squad will depart before the end of this week, with the bowling group heading to Cape Town first to acclimatise.

The fortnight trip will see the County players step up their pre-season preparations ahead of their first LV= Insurance County Championship action of the 2023 summer against Kent at Canterbury on April 6.

On their return from South Africa, a couple of friendly matches have been pencilled in, with Worcestershire heading to Wantage Road ahead of a trip to Grace Road to play Leicestershire.

The fixtures with Worcestershire will be staged on March 23 and 24 and will run as a training session, being played behind closed doors.

The club's pre-season is completed with a three-day clash against Oxford UCCE at the County Ground.

That match begins on Saturday, April 1, and admission will be free for all supporters.

The squad have been back and doing preparation work on and off since last November, and then upped their sessions at the County Ground and also Loughborough University since the turn of the year.

Several of the squad have also spent time overseas at different times, including new skipper Luke Procter, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib and Rob Keogh.