County Championship: Luke Wells stars as Lancs beat Northants by an innings

Lancashire leg-spinner Luke Wells more than doubled his season's haul, having only previously taken four wickets

Lancashire climbed to fourth in the Division One table as they beat struggling Northamptonshire by an innings and 26 runs to complete only their third County Championship win of the season.

Occasional leg-spinner Luke Wells took a career-best 5-25 as he ripped through Northamptonshire's lower order to consign the hosts to their fifth innings defeat of the summer and their fourth on home soil.

After resuming on 211-5, still needing another 81 to make Lancashire bat again, Lewis McManus (24) and Saif Zaib (45) added a further 11 to extend their overnight partnership to 56.

But then the last five wickets went down for 45 runs inside 11 overs as Lancashire got the job done inside an hour.

After chipping Tom Hartley over midwicket for four, McManus went first when he turned Wells to George Bell at short leg who took an excellent catch.

Northamptonshire then started to implode as Zaib chased a wide one, caught behind by Phil Salt.

Wells soon had a third thanks to a stunning left-handed catch off his own bowling to remove Tom Taylor before Jack White then slashed him to Keaton Jennings at slip.

Ben Sanderson was determined to go down fighting, smashing two fours and thumping Hartley over the Family Stand at long-on for six before he became Wells' fifth wicket, caught at mid-off.

Northamptonshire, now 20 points behind ninth-placed Kent, have three games left to secure their safety.

They visit out-of-form Warwickshire on Sunday before facing leaders Surrey at The Oval, then host second-placed Essex in their final game.

Lancashire, chasing a second successive top three finish, have the next two of their final three games at home, against Middlesex and Notts, before finishing the season against Kent at Canterbury.

Northamptonshire captain Luke Procter:

"It was a struggling day for us and a struggling week. We've not played some good cricket to be honest.

"We've only got three batting points all year. We've struggled all year with the batting, and it just hasn't been good enough. We've got to get better. It's not for lack of effort. Everyone's putting in, but it just hasn't been coming off.

"Sam Whiteman has added a lot of value. He has brought a lot of experience in captaincy and to average almost 40 in a poor season for us, he's done a good job. He's normally used to bouncy pitches in Perth and not really having to protect his stumps that often.

"We've got three tough games coming up. We've got to play for pride. As players we pride ourselves on our performances and hopefully, we can do that and get some good performances in for these last three games."

Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple:

"It was a good team performance really. We won the toss and put them in, but the pitch was pretty good and we worked hard, showed good discipline. It was a great team effort to bowl them out for 232.

"Josh Bohannon played brilliantly for his 175, a superb innings. George Balderson then made a brilliant 100 and it was a great help from Tom Bailey with 77 off 75 balls. That was superb hitting at the end.

"And Luke Wells' bowling has developed no end. He's really difficult to pick and when the pitch is wearing a little bit, it's very difficult to know what the ball is going to do.

"He hits a heavy length and gets revs on the ball. He's a real threat at the end. We had a good feeling this morning. We don't view him as a part-time spinner. He's developing. He's got attributes that make him very dangerous to face. He's a wicket taker, no doubt about that."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.