Steelbacks urged to respond in two tricky away games

And the County will hope that is the case during the next two days as they do battle with Durham Jets and Yorkshire Vikings.

The Steelbacks head north to face Durham today (start time 6.30pm) having lost six of their first seven Vitality Blast matches.

The other game was a tie, meaning Northants have still not won in the competition this season.

And they go into tonight's clash with Durham on the back of their worst performance of the lot.

The Steelbacks were smashed by nine wickets at the County Ground last Friday as Martin Guptill's 102 led a Rapids rout.

Now, Northants desperately need some sort of response.

But they will have their work cut out against two teams who are so tough to beat on home soil.

"There's no easy games in T20 cricket and we'll go to Durham, the field will be massive, they will look to run us to death, that will be the usual format of that game so we'll have to be up for it and respond," said Northants head coach David Ripley.

"And then we've got Yorkshire. They're a very strong side, they'll have their white-ball England players back so it's not going to get any easier.

"It's just that level of performance. Even if we lose, it's about looking at the game and thinking we've put in a good shift, the attitude has been good, we've been competitive in the field.

"It's about things we can control and at the moment, our skills are just a bit down. You can't just click your fingers and change that."