Northants coach Sadler excited by 'very high potential' of new signing Sale

The County head coach continued his reshaping of the Wantage Road squad with the signing of Somerset fast bowler Sale, which follows hot on the heels of the announced departures of pace men Brandon Glover and Nathan Buck.

Sale is 26-years-old and has suffered bad luck with injuries in recent years, restricting him to just 10 T20 and three List A matches in his 10 years at Taunton.

The Staffordshire-born player has yet to make a first-class career appearance, but he has impressed for Somerset IIs in red ball cricket this season, and impressed in a win over Northants IIs in early July.

He claimed the scalps of Charlie Thurston, Saif Zaib and James Sales as Somerset won by seven wickets at Taunton, conceding just 29 runs in the 18 overs he bowled across two innings.

Sadler clearly sees something in Sale, and confirmed that he believes he will be able to contribute in all formats for Northants.

"Ollie has a very, very high potential," he said. "He brings real pace and he’s had success in white ball cricket so far.

"That’s where his immediate strengths lie, but we see him playing all formats for us moving forward too.

"He’s at the time of his career now where he felt a move would be good.

"What he offers feels like a great fit for us right now and he’s someone we’re really excited to get to work with."

Sale will link up with the Northants squad when they return to start their pre-season work in November.

The County return to LV= Insurance County Championship action this week, when they travel to Taunton to play relegation-threatened Somerset.

The match was originally scheduled to start on Monday, but has been pushed back 24 hours as a mark of respect, with the funeral of HRH Queen Elizabeth II taking place in London on Monday afternoon.

Northants go into the game full of confidence after they secured a draw with title-chasing Surrey at Wantage Road last week, a result that saw them hold on to fifth place in the Championship table.

They are 15 points better off than sixth-placed Yorkshire, and 24 clear of seventh-placed Somerset.

The south west county are still looking over their shoulders though, as they are only eight points above second-from-bottom Warwickshire with two games of the season remaining.

The County wrap up their campaign with a home date against fourth-placed Essex on September 26.