County focus: Lamb beefs up the challenge

Andrew Radd analyses how a stalwart rejuvenated Northamptonshire

WHILE the Yorkshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire watchers in the media have been getting excited about the big guns' initial Championship victories, no one seems to have paid much attention to the team at the top of the table. But then excitement and Northamptonshire have never been easy bedfellows.

The county's supporters are not the sort of people who get carried away with early-season success. The members in the Spencer Pavilion, the diehards in the West Stand and the car-bound types over by the bowls club are all more familiar - and probably more comfortable - with unfulfilled potential.

All too often recently, Northamptonshire teams have produced a return some way short of the sum of their parts. Talent has been there in profusion but discipline, consistency and self-belief have not.

The reasons behind the present surge are not difficult to pinpoint. The low level of expectation certainly helped. Winning the Championship for the first time has been the Holy Grail since 1905, but most observers reasoned that without the cutting edge of the touring Curtly Ambrose, the attack would lack the incisive qualities necessary to dismiss sides twice. The one-day competitions looked a better bet given the depth of batting, but not even those inside the club were prepared to offer much of a price on the longer game.

The one unknown factor was Ambrose's replacement as the overseas player, India's Anil Kumble. His arrival meant the team had to adopt a very different game-plan. Instead of the Antiguan's spectacular dam-busting exploits it was to be a war of attrition, wearing the opposition down rather than blasting them out. Patience, not a Northamptonshire strength over the past decade, would have to become a constant virtue.

Kumble has, thus far, more than paid his way. In the first four matches he sent down 229 overs, picking up 23 wickets at less than 22 runs apiece, and his accuracy has undoubtedly assisted the other bowlers, who have been able to put out of their misery batsmen fatigued by trying to unravel Kumble's assortment of top-spinners and googlies.

Then there is the captain. Allan Lamb, 41 next month, is striking the ball as crisply as ever. He is also in overall charge of first-team affairs following the pre-season departure to Edgbaston of Phil Neale, backed up by the chief coach, Bob Carter.

Even after 18 years on the county circuit Lamb could not recall a more extraordinary day's cricket than last Saturday's, when his side bounced back from being dismissed for 59 to beat Surrey by nine runs. What he can remember only too well are the other false alarms when premature talk of taking the Championship to Northampton ended in bitter disappointment. It is, he insists, far too early to think in such terms. "I would like to be where we are now much nearer the end of the season," he said. "We have to start beating the stronger sides and when we come up against the weaker sides we have to make sure we capitalise."

One player in little need of motivation is David Capel, another key figure in the opening weeks. Always competitive, the 32-year-old all-rounder has been forced to bottle up his energy through the past two injury-hit summers. Now he is back, running in as of old and demonstrating his fierce desire to earn a bit of glory for the county of his birth. He, for one, believes it could be a historic season for the club. "At the moment we're playing to about 70 per cent of our potential. If we can improve on that, then given the average slice of luck that every side needs we should be more than in contention. We can win it."

Lamb's immediate response to the Surrey triumph was to stress that there is still room for improvement in all areas. "I'd hate to see us when we're really performing!" he said, urging his players to work harder.

The view from the players' balcony has certainly changed, and not only because the football stands of Northampton Town FC have been demolished since last year. Optimism is, for the time being, looming. But Northamptonshire being Northamptonshire, the faithful are not holding their breath just yet.