Skipper Willey wants Steelbacks to make cinch County Ground a fortress

Northants start their title bid with a home match against Glamorgan on Friday night (start 6.30pm).

And supporters will see plenty of purple around the place as Northants have signed a six-year sponsorship deal with cinch, who have taken on naming rights at the County Ground.

In years gone by, the Steelbacks have made life tough for visiting teams in T20 fixtures.

And Willey wants that to be the case again as his side bid to go even further than last season, when they reached the semi-finals of the T20 competition.

"When we've got a full house here and we're playing the style and brand of cricket we want to play here, it's a great atmosphere and a great venue to come and watch sport," Willey said.

"To look round and see so much cinch branding here is fantastic for us and there should be some fantastic evenings and afternoons of cricket this summer.

"The ground and the pitch has some nuances that, having played here for a long time, you start to learn and understand how to map out the game and navigate different periods of the game.

"Hopefully it can become a real home advantage for us this year and the cinch County Ground can be a real fortress for us."

Former England all-rounder Willey has hailed head coach Darren Lehmann for the work he's done in helping Northants to improve since arriving ahead of the 2025 season.

"Boof's (Lehmann) impetus over the last 18 months has been huge and the fruits just starting to bear from that," Willey said.

"It's really important that when we do start this campaign – obviously we did well and got to the semi-final last year – we understand cricket can be pretty brutal and remind you at times that if you take your foot off the pedal it can hurt you.

"While we can take some confidence from the previous two years, it's really important we don't take the quality of our side and what we've done for granted.

"We need to make sure we hit the ground running."

Northants won the T20 competition in 2013 and 2016, with Willey starring with bat and ball during the first triumph.

But he says he tries to focus on the present rather than the past when he's on the field of play.

"I think I'm so focused on the task ahead and the next few hours of each game, I probably don't look back at stuff too much," the 36-year-old said.

"As captain, there's very often a lot on your plate and trying to retain a lot of information about who you're playing and so on and so forth.

"You're very much focused on the job at hand on that evening."

Northants welcome back Chris Lynn for this season’s competition, with the Australian replacing South African Matt Breetzke and will play at the top order.

He returns to the cinch County Ground having hammered an unbeaten century for Hampshire Hawks against Northants in last season’s semi-final at Edgbaston.

Lynn’s countryman Nathan McSweeney is also set to play a major role in the Blast, having enjoyed a strong start to the red ball season.

One of last season’s star men Ravi Bopara will not be involved after he retired from playing, while the Steelbacks will also be without Saif Zaib for their opener after he suffered concussion during the weekend Championship win at Gloucestershire.

Friday night should also see a Steelbacks debut for winter signing Louis Kimber, who joined the club from neighbours Leicestershire.