Northants chief Smith satisfied with opening T20 night

While the result, a 41-run thumping of Gloucestershire, represented an ideal start to the competition on the field, Smith also had a keen eye on the commercial side of things and he admitted that the club “did okay” in that regard.

He said: “From a commercial angle it went quite well. The gate was quite good although it was certainly affected by the weather but our corporate take was quite strong.

“Given that the forecast wasn’t great, the attendance was encouraging and I’d like to thank everyone for coming.

“The atmosphere was fantastic, winning cricket matches definitely helps in that regard, and hopefully those who came will have enjoyed what they watched.”

And Smith is hopeful that the winning start will boost the attendance for Friday’s appealing clash with Warwickshire under the County Ground lights.

He continued: “It was important that we made a good start and a win like that makes a positive impression.

“We’re playing a good brand of cricket at the minute, we’ve got four or five days to polish up our skills and the forecast is good for the week.

“I’m hoping that we can get a bumper crowd in for what is always a good fixture and continue the good work that we’ve started.”