Teenager Weatherall relishing Northants debut despite difficult conditions for bowlers

Teenage fast bowler Raphy Weatherall was looking on the bright side after a tough day of toil for the Northants attack in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two clash with Middlesex.

The County managed to take just one wicket on day three on Sunday as the visitors piled on the runs, ending the day on 553 for two, a lead of one run after Northants had declared their first innings on 552 for six on Saturday.

Former Northants loanee Max Holden top-scored with an unbeaten 211, while there were also centuries for Leus du Plooy, who is 196 not out, and teenage opener Nathan Fernandes, who made 103 on his first-class debut.

It has not been a surface for bowlers to enjoy, with just eight wickets falling in 290 overs bowled, but for Weatherall on his Northants debut, it is still an experience he is relishing.

The 19-year-old, who claimed the first wicket of his career on Saturday when dismissing former England opener Mark Stoneman, has so far claimed one for 67 from 13 overs and insists it is all part of a 'learning curve' for him.

“Obviously it’s not nice in your first game, having to field for 140 overs, but I also think it’s great experience and I’ve really enjoyed it," said Weatherall.

“I think it’s good to get the difficult days in early because you learn more from a difficult day than you do from an easy one.

“If you’re up against some good batters, like we were, I can really learn how I should bowl against them, what skills I need to work on and, as a young bowler, you prefer learning from difficult experiences rather than breezing through it.

“Sando (Ben Sanderson) has been really good for me. He’s been stood next to me pretty much every ball I’ve bowled, him and Proccy (Luke Procter) have been brilliant.

“They’ve said ‘it’s the start of a long career, hopefully, and you’ll have days like this when you don’t take any wickets and you might get hit around a bit’ but that’s all part of the learning curve for me.

“It’s great to be out on the field with all of them and a great atmosphere.”

The one wicket to fall on a difficult day for Northants was that of Fernandes, who mistimed an attempt to paddle a slow bouncer from skipper Luke Procter, with the ball ballooning up into the air to give wicketkeeper Lewis McManus a routine catch.

In all, Northants used nine bowlers as they tried to make inroads into the Middlesex batting line-up, with Sanderson, Chris Tremain, Rob Keogh and Saif Zaib doing most of the heavy lifting, but it proved to be a fruitless task.

With rain forecast for much of the final day at the County Ground, a draw is very much on the cards.

Play is due to start at Wantage Road at 11am.

Quotes courtesy of Ben Kosky