Shantry in contention for Northants

Northants seamer Adam Shantry

Adam Shantry could make his first Frizzell County Championship appearance of the season when Northamptonshire entertain Worcestershire.

The 20-year-old seamer, who took 3-8 on his championship debut against Somerset last year, will play if Steffan Jones fails to recover from a hamstring problem.

That would be the only change to the side that had the better of a draw with Sussex last week as Mark Powell continues his recovery from a broken finger.

“Adam has been bowling well in the second XI, so he deserves a chance,” said coach Kepler Wessels, whose side have yet to win since being promoted to the First Division.

“There is a big difference in terms of quality in this league, but we have played some good cricket and picked up good bonus points, so I’m not worried.”

Fit-again Kabir Ali

Worcestershire’s Kabir Ali is set for his long-awaited return to championship action. The England seamer, fully recovered from a double hernia, returns to four-day action after marking his first appearance of the season in Saturday’s Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy win over Somerset with figures of 1-48.

“Kabir came through okay,” said coach Tom Moody. “He was keen to get back into things and maybe a bit too anxious to do well, which is probably why he was expensive early on.”

Off-spinner Shaftab Khalid has been drafted into the squad as the Wantage Road pitch is expected to take turn, but South Africa all-rounder Andrew Hall remains sidelined by a back problem.

“We have not been consistent enough this year,” added Moody, whose side go into the game second bottom of the table.

“We have dominated periods of games but not enough to win them. We need to be a bit more pro-active, and we are addressing the areas where we’ve been going wrong.”