Knockout attitude proves to be winner

Every game is being treated as a knockout game by the Northamptonshire Steelbacks according to Richard Levi.
Steelbacks matchwinner Richard LeviSteelbacks matchwinner Richard Levi
Steelbacks matchwinner Richard Levi

The South African thrashed a quickfire 69 as the home side chased down Derbyshire Falcons’ 191-6 to win with four balls to spare.

The win keeps them two points off the top four in the Natwest t20 Blast Narth Group and they are probably going to have to win their remaining three games if they are to reach the knockout stage.

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And Levi says that is the reason they have adopted a win at all costs mentality.

“We’re looking at every game as a quarter-final because we’ve got to keep winning,” he said.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance, if we’d have come out the wrong side tonight it might have been a bit of a struggle but we’ve got a chance to sneak in the back door.”

The batting side of things has been a weakness in the campaign so far but they came good at the right time much to Levi’s relief.

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He added: “It was time for the batters to put up their hands, we’ve been struggling in the past couple of games, the bowlers have snuck us out of a couple and this was our chance.

“They didn’t bowl as well as I thought they would do up front so it gave me and Dave (Willey) one or two easier balls to get away and we got off to a decent start.”

And while the opener’s laid a strong foundation, the finishing touches were provided by Adam Rossington and Graeme White and Levi had words of praise for the duo’s efforts.

He said: “Rosser (Adam Rossington) hasn’t played too many games here and we reminded him that if you give yourself a couple of balls you can catch it very quickly and he hits the ball unbelievably well. Hopefully he can kick on in the next couple of games.

“Whitey (Graeme White) I’m not too sure, either it’s stupidity or fearlessness!

“I’m not sure what it is but he’s seeing the ball well and getting us over the line.”