Northamptonshire will be positive, but no radical change of approach - John Sadler

Luke Procter is Northamptonshire's new Championship captain after scoring 961 runs in 2022

Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler is not planning a radical change of approach from his team in this summer's County Championship.

They finished sixth in Championship Division One in 2022 after two wins and seven draws in 14 games.

But there is now a focus on win-at-all-costs cricket because of England's Test success under captain Ben Stokes.

"It's what England want and we have to kind of tie in with what they think," Sadler told BBC Radio Northampton.

"They are trying to encourage an exciting brand of cricket like England are playing at the moment, which is fantastic, and I'm sure we'll play our part in that.

"We're still going to go about our business, look to play good, solid, hard-fought cricket.

"I'm sure there'll be times when we can be more aggressive and times when we've got to soak up a bit of pressure. Ultimately, nothing changes too much in terms of our plans as yet.

"We were in a position last year where we could have won six or seven games - two of them we got over the line, a couple we probably should have got over the line and a couple didn't go our way.

"But we played some brilliant cricket last year and we want to build on that and keep progressing forward."

Only five points will be available for draws this summer, instead of eight as in recent years.

Vice-captain Luke McManus said: "We'll be flexible with that, but still sticking to our strengths as a team, and individually."

There have been changes at the County Ground with Luke Procter appointed Championship captain, David Willey returning to the club from Yorkshire - although he is away at the Indian Premier League - and Australians Sam Whiteman, Lance Morris and Chris Tremain - the latter pair both on three match deals only.

Sadler expects Whiteman to be an important addition to their squad.

"He's going to be great for us, he's going to bring experience as well as high levels of skill and his captaincy knowledge will be really good for Proc and for other guys when they need it," he said.

"We're looking forward to getting him on board and I'm sure he'll bring some good value."