BLAST OFF! Aussie star Lynn hoping to hit Steelbacks to glory

Chris Lynn is targeting the knockout stages at the very least as he prepares to make his Vitality Blast debut for the Steelbacks.
Chris Lynn in action for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred last summerChris Lynn in action for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred last summer
Chris Lynn in action for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred last summer

The Australian T20 specialist has been brought in to provide firepower at the top of the Northants order, and he will get his first chance to do just that in Thursday's tournament opener against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston (start 6.30pm).

The 32-year-old will then just 24 hours later get his first taste of a Friday night under the lights at Wantage Road as the Steelbacks host Durham in the club’s first home game of the summer.

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Lynn is a man with a wealth of T20 experience from across the globe.

He is the record run scorer in the Big Bash League in his native Australia and has also played in Indian Premier League, the Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League and for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred last summer.

And he says the target for him and his new team-mates at the County Ground is to at the very least qualify for the quarter-finals by finishing in the top four of the 14-match North Group.

"Any tournament I play in, the target is to reach the knockouts," said Lynn.

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"Because then you are only essentially three or four match-winning innings away from winning the competition. It's as simple as that.

"You are one good innings away, you get momentum, and it is amazing what momentum can do.

"So yeah, making the knockouts is what we want to do, and I don't know how many wins that would take, maybe a minimum of seven?

"So that is the first target, and then as I said, if we can produce three or four man-of-the-match performances then you're holding that trophy."

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The Steelbacks were winners of the Blast in 2013 and 2016, but have struggled to make any serious impact in the past few years.

Lynn and fellow overseas signing Jimmy Neesham – who will miss the first three matches of the season due to IPL commitments – will be tasked with ensuring that is not the case this summer.

They have lost the big-hitting Adam Rossington after he left the club on the eve of the season, but they will be hoping in Lynn they have a more than ready-made replacement.