Prince and Chapple reach career milestones.

Prince made his highest ever score and finished unbeaten on 257.

Ashwell Prince made a career-best score of 257 not out in Lancashire's first innings of 650-6 declared, their eighth-highest first-class total and Glen Chapple (4-42) claimed his 900th Championship wicket for Lancashire as Northants stumbled to 113-7 in reply. 

Prince had enjoyed a partnership worth 323 with Steven Croft yesterday and continued to share sizeable stands with other Lancashire batsmen to compound Northamptonshire's misery. Jos Buttler made 87 in his 138-run partnership with Prince and Tom Smith added 79 in a 140-run stand with Prince.

The South-African batsman batted for 500 minutes and ensured that Lancashire would post their highest total against Northants and it was the first time Lancashire had posted a score of 600 or more since 2005.

Buttler continued his overnight partnership with Prince as the pair helped Lancashire to accumulate 174 runs in the morning session. The England wicketkeeper smashed 87 in 91 balls in an innings containing 9 fours and progressed to his fourth Championship fifty for Lancashire with three sixes in four balls.

His stand with Prince came to a close after they had added 138 runs in just 127 balls to propel Lancashire's target into dangerous territory for the visitors, who showed an understandable lack of enthusiasm when Buttler edged behind off Andrew Hall (2-105).

Either side of the lunch interval, Smith continued his strong form with the bat to assist Prince in his search for a double-century, which took the South-African 275 balls to achieve. Smith played with a similar aggression to Buttler and reached his half-century in 71 deliveries after lunch.

It became clear that Lancashire would declare when Prince had either reached a new career-best score or been removed, but Northants were unable to claim the wicket they needed to put them out of their misery as Smith fell with the score at 643-6.

Wayne White (2*) had the pleasure of watching from the non-strikers end as Prince made the highest total by a Lancashire batsman since John Crawley scored 280 in 2001, against Northants and soon reached his highest first-class score, as Lancashire declared on 650-6.

Lancashire made the perfect start in the field, claiming two wickets for one run as Chapple removed both of Northamptonshire's openers. James Middlebrook and Steven Peters were both dismissed without scoring and a 41-runs stand between Richard Levi and Matt Spriegel (14) was followed by another collapse.

Levi proved to be the only batsmen capable of resisting the Lancashire onslaught after Simon Kerrigan (1-16) and Smith (2-11) forced the visitors to slump to 54-5 after losing two wickets in three balls.

Hall (27*) and Levi added 44 runs for the sixth-wicket, but the visitors endured further heartache after losing Levi and David Willey (2) before close of play. Chapple claimed his 900th Championship wicket for Lancashire when Levi was removed for 59 and Northants closed with a dejected temperament, still trailing by 537 runs.