Marchant de Lange’s 13th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket left Gloucestershire anticipating a first County Championship win since the end of the 2022 season on day two of their Division Two match with Northamptonshire.
The South African paceman, who had already secured a six-wicket haul against Middlesex this season, produced consistently hostile bowling to return 5-42, including wickets with successive balls as the hosts were hustled out for 171, 238 behind Gloucestershire’s first-innings total of 409.
Siddarth Kaul completed a five-wicket haul on debut for Northamptonshire, finishing with figures of 5-76.
Gloucestershire declined to enforce the follow-on and Cameron Bancroft (36 not out) and Ben Charlesworth (41 not out) took the visitors to 77 without loss and an overall lead of 315.
After Gloucestershire eked out 71 from the last two wickets, the Northamptonshire reply got off to a poor start when Emilio Gay was pinned lbw first ball by a swinging delivery from Josh Shaw.
Northamptonshire went to lunch on 56-1 before the complexion of the game changed within three balls of the resumption.
Ricardo Vasconcelos nicked De Lange to James Bracey to depart for 43 and Karun Nair was beaten for pace first ball to be pinned in front.
George Bartlett prevented the hat-trick and for a while at least, he and Luke Procter threatened a rebuild.
It was spinner Zafar Gohar who cut the revival off trapping Procter on the crease for 32 and Bartlett soon followed undone by a ball of extra bounce from Tom Price, Bracey taking a fine catch standing up to the stumps.
Saif Zaib, restraining his usual aggression, resisted stoically for his 23 from 80 balls only for De Lange to return and find the outside edge for Bracey to claim another victim and Zafar returned to have fellow spinner Liam Patterson-White lbw playing no shot.
De Lange helped wrap things up early in the final session with Kaul and Ben Sanderson both falling to catches behind the wicket, the latter to a brute of a ball which flew off the shoulder of the bat to slip.
