Ben Sanderson ripped through the Worcestershire batting with a stunning late burst of wickets at Wantage Road to seal Northamptonshire’s first County Championship victory of the season in style.

The Pears were 88-2 in their second innings before Sanderson captured six wickets in the space of 29 balls – finishing with 7-31 and career-best match figures of 11-109 as he generated a dramatic collapse to sink the visitors for 114.

Earlier, James Sales and Lewis McManus hit hundreds in a buoyant partnership of 192 – a record for the county’s seventh wicket against Worcestershire – that enabled them to declare at 597-7.

All-rounder Sales’ unbeaten 146 was his second successive Championship century, while McManus contributed 104 before Sanderson took centre stage, closing out an innings win with a full day to spare.

Northamptonshire resumed in the morning with one eye on a potential fourth batting bonus point, which required them to score 34 in 31 deliveries – and Sales and George Bartlett (54) got them within touching distance before ultimately falling short.

With 12 needed from the last over before the cut-off, Bartlett thumped Tom Taylor’s first ball to the boundary and lost his off stump to the next, which was enough to add another bonus point to the Worcestershire tally.

Taylor’s shrewd variations for the remainder of his over thwarted Sales and McManus, who then reverted to a more patient approach in their efforts to stretch the Northamptonshire lead.

McManus looked scratchy at the outset, mistiming some of his shots and both Olly Hannon-Dalby and Matthew Waite beat the outside edge more than once as the batting side went more than nine overs without a boundary.

However, McManus remedied that situation by punching Waite off the back foot for four and began to look more fluent after lunch, lifting the same bowler over the top for another boundary that brought up his half-century.

Meanwhile, Sales ticked along steadily towards his ton, flicking a couple of Taylor half-volleys to the long-on fence and repeating the stroke against Adam Finch to steer the total beyond 500.

Pears skipper Brett D’Oliveira brought himself on for what proved an expensive spell, with McManus launching the spinner for six before Sales weighed in with three consecutive fours in his next over.

A flurry of powerful sweep shots from McManus off Ethan Brookes’ medium pace took him to the third ton of his first-class career, the second 50 using up only 33 balls, before he was leg before attempting another sweep against D’Oliveira.

Sales flayed successive boundaries to trigger the declaration – and Worcestershire were dealt a blow only five balls into their second innings as Jake Libby’s off stump was flattened by Sanderson.

Harry Conway replaced Sanderson at the David Capel End after tea and immediately found a good line, inducing Dan Lategan to play and miss a few before the left-hander feathered one behind.

Gareth Roderick, having batted through virtually the entire first innings for an undefeated 164, proved hard to shift again – offering Northamptonshire nothing aside from an early flash outside off stump that looped over the slips.

He found a determined ally in Adam Hose, who weathered initial pressure and overtook his partner with a series of leg-side boundaries – some aided by sloppy outfielding – as the pair added exactly 50.

But Sanderson’s second spell wrecked the Pears’ resistance as he castled Hose for 33 with another beauty, then dismissed both Brookes and Waite without scoring while Luke Procter removed his opposite number D’Oliveira for a second-ball duck.

Sanderson then claimed the key wicket of Roderick for 33, clean bowled Taylor and took a return catch to dismiss Beyers Swanepoel before Sales pinned Hannon-Dalby leg before to wrap up victory.

Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.