Lehmann looks for positives as another defeat piles pressure on Steelbacks

However, the fact remains that the hosts didn't just cruise to victory, but thrashed their rivals from across the border, leaving Northants fans seriously worried about Vitality T20 Blast quarter-final qualification.

On what proved to be a batting friendly surface, coupled with inviting boundaries and a lightening outfield, the Steelbacks came up well short when setting a total.

"(We were) 20 or 30 short with the bat, it looked a really good wicket, didnt it?" Northants head coach Lehmann said.

"We were cruising at two for 100 and what did we lose, five for 23? There’s the game!

"We had two 'in' batters and we needed one to go big. That’s probably been the story of the back end of this group of games - we haven't had any big run scorers.

"We need blokes to make 80s and 90s and things like that.

"If we have blokes like that, we'd make 200 today and make the game interesting."

"But we were in a good position - that’s the pleasing thing, that’s the positive."

The Northants boss was quick to applaud the efforts of Rehan Ahmed, whose blistering 52 not out helped Leicestershire secure a six-wicket victory with 23 balls to spare.

"Ahmed took it on and he was brave, wasn’t he?" Lehmann said.

"We've had two guys, Ahmed and Ali (Worcestershire), in the last two games take it away from us - there's something in that for our batters.

"You're hoping they come off, you're willing them to come off."

On the wider picture, Lehmann admitted that the table is closing in around Northants and they can't afford to travel to Durham next Friday needing to get a result.

They next take on Derbyshire at home, where they haven't won in their past four T20 fixtures.

"It's a quick turnaround, isn't it?” Lehmann said.

“We've got to win two games - there's no hiding that fact. We've got to get back on a winning track.

"We don't want to leave it to the last two games, but it'd be entertaining, wouldn't it?

"Our fans have been fantastic - we've got to play better at home, we know that.

"I think it'll be a pretty good wicket. They've been working hard, the groundstaff. They're working long hours to get to the problem and make it a little bit flatter.

"We certainly want a flat wicket - we want a high scoring game at Wantage Road. We've wanted that all year but that certainly hasn't been the case.

"But you get what you get, both teams have got to play on it and we've just got to play better on it."