Northamptonshire captain Stephen Peters was delighted with the way his side stuck to their task on day one of the County Championship clash with Kent at Canterbury.
Having lost the toss, the County were staring at a potentially substantial total when Michael Powell and Daniel Bell-Drummond were in partnership, but 201 for three became 271 all out and that represented a good day’s work by the visitors.
And Peters acknowledged the efforts of his attack who had another outstanding day at the office.
He said: “We would’ve batted first and it’s a good pitch so to keep them to 270 is a fantastic effort.
“We toiled for a bit but we stuck at it and eventually got our rewards.
“That’s been a key thing all season, we’re hanging in there, really sticking to our task and at the minute it’s paying off.”
Australian Trent Copeland, who has done a good job without much to show for his efforts before this game, was the pick of the seamers with five for 71 and Peters had plenty of praise for the Sydneysider.
He added: “Trent beat the bat so many times it wasn’t funny, like he has done all year and he ended up getting one caught at mid-off and one at cover.
“He got what he deserved today, it was another fantastic performance by him and showed what he is all about.”
With one part of the job done, the attention now turns to Peters and his batting colleagues on day two where the foundations for a big lead will be at the top of the agenda.
“It’s certainly a decent pitch and the top six will have to take a bit of responsibility.
“We need to get stuck in and give the bowlers so,me time off their feet.”