Derbyshire wicketkeeper Jamie Pipe's battling knock with a broken finger helped his side avoid the follow-on against Division Two rivals Northants.

Northants had started the day on 382-6 but were all out for 399, missing out on batting points by just one run.

Derbyshire slipped to 124-4 before Pipe dug in for 17 overs, despite suffering his injury, to help his side close in on the 250 follow-on target.

Greg Smith (70no) and Jon Clare (50no) then took the hosts to 269-5.

The pair batted with increasing freedom to share an unbroken stand of 97 in 26 overs.

Derbyshire were 130 behind at the end of the day's play, but would have had a greater deficit had it not been for an excellent spell of seam bowling by Charl Langeveldt.

The South African took three wickets in four overs to bring the Northants innings to a swift end, finishing with a season's best figures of 5-52 in 25 overs.

Derbyshire later announced they had signed Leicestershire wicketkeeper Tom New on a month's loan to replace Pipe.