Gareth Berg signs contract extension with Northamptonshire

The 40-year-old has taken 34 first-class wickets since joining Northants on loan at the end of 2019

Gareth Berg has signed a one-year contract extension to keep him at Northamptonshire until at least the end of the 2022 season.

The 40-year-old, who is also the head coach of the Italian national team, has taken 34 first-class wickets for Northants since arriving on loan from Hampshire in 2019. He made the move permanent in 2020.

Berg, a seam-bowling allrounder, has made 138 career first-class appearances, taking 299 wickets at an average of 30.64 and scoring 5,145 runs.

He has made six appearances for Northants in the County Championship this season, scoring one half-century on his way to 134 runs and taking a team-leading 20 wickets, including career-best match figures of 9 for 90 against Sussex.

Commenting on his contract extension, Berg said: "I’m really glad to have been making a positive contribution so far this season after a strange start to my contract during the Covid outbreak and subsequent lockdowns.

"Although the focus may be on red-ball, I’m looking forward to hopefully still be contributing to the team across all formats on and off the field."

Meanwhile, head coach, David Ripley added: "He’s been one of our best bowlers from the start. He’s got some runs, he’s catching them at second slip, he’s fit, he’s got things to say in the group with his coaching hat on.

"He’s just had a great start to the summer, and he’s convinced everyone pretty early he can continue to do the same next year.

"He was a bit low key with his batting last year, but he’s really played well this year. He was in my training group over the winter, and he’s hit them really well right from the first session we had.

"We’ve been talking about him scoring another hundred actually, it’s been a few years since his last first-class hundred so that’s on his radar and the way he’s going I wouldn’t put it past him to tick that off somewhere along the line."

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