Northants' Sales Shines with Career-Best Score Against Middlesex in 2026

James Sales achieved a career-best score of 164, while Liam Guthrie posted 51 runs from 49 balls, as Northamptonshire took the lead against Middlesex.

James Sales and Liam Guthrie Post Career-Best Scores Image source, Getty Images. James Sales' previous best first-class score was 135, but he surpassed that on day three of the Rothesay County Championship at the County Ground in Northampton. Sales remained unbeaten on 164, sharing a lengthy stand with fellow centurion Nathan McSweeney before tailender Guthrie's spirited assault on the Middlesex bowling yielded 51 from 49 balls. This partnership of 74 between Sales and Guthrie tilted the close contest in Northamptonshire's favour. ## Northamptonshire's First-Innings Total Reaches 409 Sales and McSweeney, whose partnership had already realised 131, continued to make steady progress during the first hour of play with a solitary scare – Sales' edge off Ryan Higgins falling just short of the diving Joe Cracknell behind the stumps. Bowling with pace and zip, Naavya Sharma caused a few problems for McSweeney before the Australian took advantage of a looser delivery to whip a four off his hips that took him to his second successive century. It was Tom Helm who eventually broke the stand of 164, persuading McSweeney to clip straight to mid-wicket and Northamptonshire were six down in the next over as George Bartlett left a ball from Sharma that fizzed back to hit the top of his stumps. ## Middlesex Fights Back with the Bat That gave Northamptonshire, chasing their first County Championship victory of the season after two draws, a handy lead of 68. But Middlesex fought back with the bat to reach stumps 41 in front for the loss of Josh de Caires. Sam Robson was one short of his half-century when the players went off for bad light, with Max Holden alongside him on 42. There were a couple of early alarms for Middlesex's openers when they began their second innings, with De Caires almost playing on and Robson's edge off Harry Conway shelled at slip by Ricardo Vasconcelos. ## Breakthrough for Northamptonshire But they did enough to see off Conway and Sanderson and it was home captain Luke Procter who achieved the breakthrough, winning an lbw decision against De Caires with Middlesex only halfway to wiping out the deficit. Robson settled into the groove, though, cutting with authority and steering Guthrie to the mid-wicket fence to take his side out of the red, while Holden unveiled some classy strokes to negate the leg-spin of Calvin Harrison. ## Middlesex's Second-Innings Progress The new ball brought Middlesex further reward prior to lunch, with Lewis McManus – who had been dropped at slip off Helm – taken behind off a Higgins delivery that reared off the shoulder of the bat. Ben Sanderson followed early in the afternoon session, caught at second slip off an outside edge with Northamptonshire still in arrears, but that quickly changed as Guthrie launched a fiery salvo against the seamers.