County Championship: Northants and Gloucestershire draw thriller

Rob Keogh followed up his first-innings century with 74 as Northants drew with Gloucestershire

Northamptonshire narrowly failed to chase 299 as they began the season with a draw at home to Gloucestershire.

Having taken 4-22 in the morning to bowl the visitors out for 363, Northants were set 299 in 82 overs.

Rob Keogh, after his first-innings 113, led the chase with 74 and, after tea, 185 were needed from 35 overs.

But Keogh fell and when three further wickets went for just three runs, the home side saw out the final four overs to finish on 272-8 to claim a draw.

Josh Cobb's 36 kept his side up with the chase but he chanced his arm against Zafar Gohar's left-arm spin and was caught at mid-wicket.

Ryan Higgins then had Lewis McManus and Gareth Berg caught at backward point in consecutive balls as Gloucestershire sensed a sniff of victory.

But Tom Taylor, who was dropped in the final over, and Nathan Buck got their side safely through to the close.

Gloucestershire were probably the more relieved of the sides.

They resumed the final day 326-6, leading by 261, but could not extend the lead beyond 300.

Higgins added just five to his overnight score and fell for 139 - his second-highest first-class score.

He was one of three morning victims for Ben Sanderson, who finished with 5-66 and nine wickets in the match.

Northamptonshire took 13 points and host Yorkshire in a fortnight, while Gloucestershire, who earned 12, face the Tykes in Bristol on Thursday.

Northants head coach John Sadler told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We played all the cricket since lunch, we set it up perfectly, but we just didn't quite get over the line.

"When Bergy (Gareth Berg) went out there, the intention was still to try and win it, but unfortunately he got out first ball and that was the time to say 'it's time now not to lose'.

"We had a really good chat at the start of the week about our identity, how we're going to play our cricket, what behaviours the players are about.

"Those behaviours have been clear this week, the way we've played ,the way we've gone about our business, the way we've planned and executed has been brilliant - and I'm very proud of Vasco (Richard Vasconcelos) in his first game as captain, I thought he did beautifully."