Coach Ripley relaxed despite Steelbacks’ slow T20 start

The Steelbacks head into Friday night’s home game against Worcestershire Rapids (start 6.30pm) sitting bottom of the North Group.

A 41-run reverse at Durham Jets was followed by an agonising final-ball five-wicket defeat to Birmingham Bears at the County Ground last Friday.

But Ripley is refusing to worry, remaining hopeful his men will start to get in the groove during the 14-game group stage.

“It’s all about momentum, this competition,” said the head coach. “You’ve got to get momentum at the right time.

“Of course we’d rather have won our first two games, there’s no doubt about it. We’d like the points in the bank.

“But there’s still 12 games to go and if you get some momentum towards the end and you find your formula and get players in form, it’s very powerful going into the quarter-finals.

“We’ve very disappointed not to have won, but with 12 games to go there’s no panic.

“I still think we’ve got a good T20 side and come the end of the summer, we hope we’ve proved that to a few people.”