Down to you, Kepler

David Sales enjoyed his 11th season with Northants © Getty Images

Relegation in the Championship and a mighty near-miss in the National League usually ends with the sack or at least a ticking-off for the head coach; not so at Northants. Kepler Wessels has been rewarded with a new long-term contract and now has absolute power over first-team affairs.

The cricket committee has been disbanded and Wessels is now head coach and chief selector. Northants are now under Wessels' complete control and he can build the team he wants. "It is going to be exactly like that," he says. "I signed a three-year contract for that reason and we are getting to where I want us to be."

The revolution is in full swing. First out of the door after a season that brought only one Championship victory was Graeme Swann. Next followed Toby Bailey and Mark Powell. David Sales and Jason Brown are now the only first-team regulars with more than a couple of years at the club.

Northants had to wait until July for that first victory as it soon became apparent that an attack led by Johann Louw and Ben Phillips would struggle to dismiss their opponents. "We were realistic at the start of the season," Wessels says. "There were financial reasons beyond my control that meant we could not strengthen our squad. We went out with a weakened team and our best chance of survival was in the National League. We equipped ourselves there and came through under a lot of pressure.

"If you look at our Championship results, we didn't lose that many matches but we drew too many. Most of them were comfortable draws but we could not finish teams off as we were just not strong enough to bowl them out."

Player of the Year: David Sales Averaged more than 60 during first year as captain
High: Last-over win against Kent, which avoided relegation in the National League Low: Just about everything else

This article was first published in the November issue of The Wisden Cricketer.
Click here for further details.