It was one of those days that only the poor, beleaguered County Championship grants. After a morning in which the single alarm happily proved false - jangling bells and wailiing sirens in the grandstand did not in fact preface a fire, although play was suspended for ten minutes - ten wickets then fell in 33 overs.
By this stage, the casual Twenty20 spectator would probably have left. Tired of watching Andrew Hall and Elton Chigumbura add 106 at 2.7 an over, he would have missed developments that made their efforts potentially match-winning.
Once Chigumbura, the Zimbabwe captain, had gone for a stylish, if patient, 44 from 126 balls in his maiden first-class innings in England, Northamptonshire lost their remaining four men for 42 more runs