County Championship: Nair and Zaib set up Northants win bid against Glamorgan

Saif Zaib hit his first century since September 2022

Northants start the final day needing seven wickets to beat Glamorgan after Karun Nair and Saif Zaib smashed the home side to a massive lead of 334.

Indian Test batter Nair made a classy 202 not out and Zaib hammered 100 as Northants racked up 605 for six.

Glamorgan, left 40 overs to bat on day three, slipped to 104-3 on a one-sided day.

But a poor weather forecast may mean reduced chances for Northants to win.

Ricardo Vasconcelos started the day needing 20 to beat his previous career-best, also against Glamorgan, but after a bright start he nicked Mir Hamza behind the wicket on 182.

George Bartlett quickly provided Brad Wheal with his first Glamorgan wicket, and James Harris dismissed James Sales to raise the visitors' hopes briefly on another bitterly cold day.

But an attacking flurry from Zaib in partnership with Nair took Northants to 413-5 and a fourth batting point at the 110-overs mark.

The chilly afternoon session was brutally one-sided as Nair and Zaib plundered runs almost at will against a far-flung field, with Glamorgan having to remedy a flagging over-rate as well as trying to contain the run-rate.

Nair swept, paddled and cut to devastating effect while Zaib was busy throughout, taking up the attacking impetus in a stand of 212 as Glamorgan were left - to misquote the new Taylor Swift opus - with a tortured bowlers department.

Zaib was dropped on 71 and 99, but got the extra run for his century before being caught at deep square-leg off Mason Crane, having hit 13 boundaries.

That left Nair to stroll to a double century, including 21 fours and two sixes, before Luke Procter called them in 25 minutes before tea to ramp up the pressure on Glamorgan.

Zain Ul Hassan and Billy Root started with a stand of 46 before Ul Hassan was caught behind for 16, driving at Raphy Weatherall.

Zaib's spin brought the next breakthrough as Root, looking set on 41, played on.

In the next over Ben Sanderson had Sam Northeast caught at slip by a juggling Emilio Gay for 18 before Colin Ingram was dropped next ball by Nair, also at slip.

Ingram and Kiran Carlson blocked out the remaining 14 overs to prevent further inroads.

Northants all-rounder Saif Zaib told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It's very sweet to get a hundred, and it's always nice batting with someone like Karun who kept me quite composed, he's a calming influence.

"I had 10 or 12 starts last year getting twenties and thirties, so it was nice to make the most of it.

"I'm trying to be positive and this year play my natural game, not to be bogged down, it worked today and hopefully it'll work a few more times.

"Hopefully we can take the seven wickets left and get the win."

Glamorgan batter Billy Root told BBC Sport Wales:

"It's no secret that we're a bit behind in the game, but it's a good surface and we've got a lot of good players to come.

"It's been a nice surface for two and a half days, I've never seen a wicket change so much but that's part of the game and we've got to keep fighting, we've got to bat three sessions.

"It was tropical with the sun out.. no it's tough when it gets windy, but we've got ten other guys out there to keep us company."