Vasconcelos relieved as Northants beat the weather and Glamorgan to secure victory

Northants must have thought they had blown their big victory chance on Monday, when Marchant de Lange hammered a brilliant century and Dan Douthwaite added a big score to leave the County, who at one point were on course for an innings victory, chasing 189 to win on the final day.

They then woke up Storm Francis on Tuesday, with pouring rain and gale-force winds battering the County Ground.

But the weather cleared to allow a mid-afternoon start, and the County had enough time to get the runs they needed, with Emilio Gay hitting an unbeaten 77 to complete his maiden first-class half--century, and Charlie Thurston making 62 in a six-wicket victory.

Looking back on Glamorgan's late-order assault on Monday, Vasconcelos, who was deputising for the rested Adam Rossington, said: "It is not often people come out and play like Marchant and Dan did.

"I thought they played superbly and really struck the ball so well.

"But for the guys to come out and bat like they did yesterday evening and wrestle the momentum back for us was great to see, especially from a really young top three, so I am really happy with that."

On the terrible weather that welcomed the players on their arrival at Wantage Road, and also the threat of later rain, the skipper admitted he was relieved to get the job done.

"When we turned up this morning, we did take a look at the forecast and thought it would clear up around lunchtime," he said.

"But it got a bit nervy there towards the end when there were a few scattered showers, and we weren't sure if they were going to hit or miss us.

"We knew that if we came off we were going to lose overs straight away, so we did need to go out there and play positively, and the guys did that really well.

"I am sure Emilio and Charlie would have liked to have just coasted in ideally, but sometimes you have to play for the team and they both did that.

"Unfortunately we lost a few more wickets at the end, but I will take the win any day."