Washington Sundar takes fifer on County debut for Lancashire

Bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar has shined on what has indeed been a dream County debut for him as he registered a fifer on the second day against Northamptonshire. Representing Lancashire, Sundar had already taken a four-wicket haul by the end of the first day before adding yet another scalp to his wicket tally.

Sundar took the key wicket of a well-set wicketkeeper-batter Lewis McManus to complete his five-wicket haul. McManus, who was expected to stage a fightback being the lone warrior for Northamptonshire, could add only two more runs to his overnight score before a good delivery from the Tamil Nadu spinner forced him to induce a false stroke which ended up in the hands of Keaton Jennings.

Washington Sundar’s fifer bundles out Northamptonshire for 235

After Lewis McManus was dismissed for 61, it was curtains down for Northamptonshire as they were bundled out for 235 with only Rob Keogh (54) being the other half-centurion. Apart from McManus, Washington Sundar also accounted for wickets of skipper Will Young, Ryan Rickleton, Keogh, and Tom Taylor. He finished his spell with figures of 5/76 and was almost unplayable by the opposition batters who found it extremely difficult to pick him.

While Sundar was the pick of the bowlers for Lancashire in the first innings, Will Williams (2/27) and Luke Wood (3/34) also made stellar contributions with the ball in hand while Tom Bailey, Luke Wells, and leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson went wicketless.

Meanwhile, Lancashire in reply have lost the opener, Luke Wells, for just three runs against his name and the onus will now be on the experienced Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon to make amends from here on as their side eyes colossal first innings lead by surpassing Northamptonshire’s total.

Sundar would be eager to showcase more of such performances on a consistent basis as he targets to make a comeback to the Indian Test team. The bowling all-rounder has not played a red-ball game for India since March 2021 and a finger injury in July last year had ruled him out of the England series.