County Championship: Vasconcelos gives Northants control v Glamorgan

Ricardo Vasconcelos returned to Northants' first team with a bang as his 166 not out helped put them in the driving seat against Glamorgan.

He and Luke Procter (65) added 191 while Karun Nair hit 55 not out to take Northants to 314-2, 43 runs ahead.

Vasconcelos' century was his first since May 2022 after injury problems.

Colin Ingram's 82 and Mason Crane's career-best 61 steered Glamorgan to 271 despite Ben Sanderson's five-wicket haul.

The value of Sanderson's performance was shown as Glamorgan's bowlers struggled to make an impact on a lengthy day finishing at 19:17 BST.

After their first division toils, Northants are well placed for a decent haul of batting points as well as taking a grip on the game.

Glamorgan resumed on 203 for seven on a bright but still chilly morning, with Ingram and Crane taking their stand to 65 before Ingram edged Sanderson low to a diving Karun Nair at slip.

Sanderson soon disposed of Brad Wheal to complete his five-for, but Crane smashed a six off Chris Tremain and then took the strike intelligently as he added 35 with last man Mir Hamza to earn a batting point.

A tally of 271 looked a respectable total from the early depths of 27 for four and James Harris won an lbw shout against the in-form Emilio Gay on 15.

But Northants dominated the afternoon session as Vasconcelos and Procter developed a century stand without being put under particular pressure, as Glamorgan's seamers were unable to get much life out of the Dukes ball on a true pitch.

Pakistan's Hamza was economical, but Procter moved serenely to an uncomplicated half century off 121 balls before Vasconcelos opened his shoulders against leggie Crane with a series of big blows over mid-wicket and a streaky edge between wicket-keeper and slip.

Back-to-back boundaries from Vasconcelos off debutant loanee Wheal brought up an aggressive century, including 18 fours for the diminutive left-hander.

Northants upped the run-rate comfortably in the final session but just when the batters looked completely in control, Procter eventually swept Crane to square-leg.

Indian Test batter Nair proved a steady partner for Vasconcelos, who was rarely troubled apart from one edge off Crane and successive nicks for four through slip off Hamza.

The new ball was taken after 19:00 BST with four overs left, but the century stand came up as Vasconcelos moved within sight of his career-best of 185, scored in the teams' last meeting on the ground in 2021.