McManus happy as Northants hit back to stay in the hunt against Lancashire

The visitors will resume their first innings in the Rothesay County Championship clash on Saturday morning (11am) on 133 for three, still 105 runs behind Northants.

The Red Rose recovered from 59 for three thanks to Marcus Harris (53no) and Matty Harris (31no), but McManus believes the County are still very much in the hunt.

The wicket-keeper performed his own rescue act earlier in the day, hitting a crucial 53 to help steer Northants to 238 all out from a precarious 67 for six after a disastrous morning session on a green-tinged and lively wicket.

There were also crucial contributions from Liam Guthrie (43), Calvin Harrison (29) and Ben Sanderson (19) as the last four wickets added 171 runs.

Northants had won the toss, and although McManus acknowledged it was a far from ideal start, he admitted it didn’t come as a complete shock.

“We chose to bat first, and we're happy with the score we got to in the end, from the position which we found ourselves in” said the vice-captain.

“I think we could have quite easily had a couple more wickets, and then we've got them five down.

“So, the plan will be the same on Saturday, try and get a couple out early, and then we're ahead of the game, and try and eke out these 100 runs ahead for as long as possible.

“The plan was always to bat first.

“We’ve got a couple of plans, which we've come up with over the last couple of weeks.

“Get a score on the board, and we feel that the pitch will benefit us that way around, the further it goes.

“I think the positive is we fought hard to get up to what we feel was a good score on that pitch, really, the way that it played.

“So, we want to play on those types of pitches here, which is exciting.

“It’s obviously more on the bowler friendly side, but we feel that that's a good formula for us to win games of cricket, which is the most important.

“The tail did the side proud, and those lower order runs are so frustrating for a fielding side, as we know.

“All the lads bat the whole way down, which is really good. So, yeah, we just try and eke out as many as we can and we're happy with where we got to in the end.

“It was a massive contribution from Liam Guthrie coming in at 10, which is hugely positive for us.”

Talking about how Northants went about their bowling, McManus added: “I think we did a lot right there.

“We realise there are areas which we could have done better in the evening session, but the beauty of the score that we got is we are still over 100 runs ahead of them.

“So, come back on Saturday morning and have a good first hour, and then we're back in the box seat.”