Ripley proud of Steelbacks for securing two home ties

David Ripley is proud of the white-ball efforts of his players (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

The Steelbacks will host Middlesex in the last eight of the NatWest T20 Blast on Tuesday night (start time 6.30pm) after finishing second in the North Group.

And they will also have a Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final to look forward to the following week as they host Surrey on Thursday, August 18 (start time 1.30pm).

The Steelbacks topped their One-Day Cup group, ahead of the likes of Warwickshire and Yorkshire.

And Ripley said: “It’s great news.

“It was a tricky old evening on Monday, where anything could happen and we could have not qualified, so it was a bit tense and tight.

“To finish top of the group was good, and in a pretty tight group it’s good to get a home tie.

“It will be a tough tie, but we are playing well and we’re looking forward to it.”

And he added: “It’s a great effort by the players.

“We’ve had injuries as well - Richard Levi hasn’t batted in a 50-over game.

“We lost Seekkuge Prasanna to the Sri Lanka team, we’ve had Olly Stone injured and the boys who have gone out there to play for us can be really proud.

“We’ve got a home quarter-final in both and it’s a good effort.”