[ad_1]
Northamptonshire all-rounder Rob Keogh believes they have the desire and ability to bounce straight back following last summer’s relegation.
They finished bottom of Championship Division One in 2023, 16 points short of staying in the top flight.
The club have re-signed India batter Karun Nair and Australian pace bowler Chris Tremain for the beginning of the 2024 campaign.
“Everyone is so keen to right the wrongs of last year,” Keogh said.
“Everybody is putting in the hard yards (in training). Everyone wants to improve and we all agree we need to be fitter and stronger – hopefully that will help us on the field.”
Northants finished 2023 strongly, losing by two wickets to Warwickshire after having them 24-5 chasing a target of 176, drawing with champions Surrey at The Oval after leading by 172 on first innings and beating second-placed Essex by an innings.
“We showed in September last year what we are capable of,” Keogh told BBC Radio Northampton.
“If it wasn’t for a bit of weather I’d like to think we’d have turned Surrey over at The Oval. Essex we obviously beat at home and we were so close to doing something incredible at Edgbaston.
“We did have glimpses of it but we just didn’t string it together enough throughout the year and the boys are hungry to put that right and get us back up there.”
Keogh – who is in his testimonial year – made his first-team debut in 2010 and was part of the squad which won promotion in 2013 and 2019.
He also hit the winning boundary against Durham when Northants won the 2016 T20 Blast at Edgbaston.
“I’ve been lucky to be part of an era when the club has been hugely successful, the two T20 wins (in 2013 and 2016), we lost in the (2015) final, we got to a semi-final of the 50-over competition and the promotions in the Championship, to be part of two of those is pretty special,” he said.
“We’re disappointed with how things went last year and the lads are keen to bounce back and get back to where we feel we belong in Division One – and try and get out of the group in the white-ball stuff as well. It’s an exciting 2024 ahead.”
