Hard-hitting Stirling wants to stay on the attack after superb Steelbacks debut

The Irishman turned in a scintillating performance on his first appearance for Northants, taking two wickets and then scoring a quickfire unbeaten 80 as Worcestershire Rapids were hammered by nine wickets.

Chasing a modest 125 to win in their 20 overs, there was to be no circumspect start from Stirling as he went at it from the start along with opening partner Richard Levi.

The pair ensured Northants raced to 57 without loss in the opening six-over powerplay which meant the game was as good as done, and Stirling insists that is the only way he knows how to play the T20 game.

“From my point of view, I’m not going to change the game plan too much so I’m going to keep being aggressive in the powerplay," said the Irishman.

"It’s a good opportunity to score boundaries which were hard to come by today.

“It’s always a chance to try and take the game away from the opposition in the first six overs instead of taking the game deep.

"If that run rate had gone up a couple per over, there could have been some pressure on at the end.”

As it was, there was no pressure at all as the Steelbacks cruised to victory with almost five overs to spare.

Northants skipper Josh Cobb won the toss and chose to bowl, and Stirling admitted it was a big advantage to chase on a pitch that has been under the covers for a few days due to the rain that had hit the area.

“The pitch was just a little bit slow as was expected with what we’ve had weather-wise in the past couple of weeks," said the former Middlesex man.

"It probably didn’t have much drying time so we were quite fortunate to get out there bowling first.

“As a batter, to be able to see what happened over those first 20 overs and to adjust your game accordingly, really helped us. The conditions certainly suited batting second today."

As well as hitting the headlines with his batting, Stirling also shone with his off-spin, claiming two for 26 from his four overs.

He was one of four spinners used, bowling 15 of the 20 overs between them, but Stirling doesn't necessarily think that will become a tactic in all of their remaining matches.

"There is a lot of flexibility in our attack," he said.

"We’ve had a lot of seam options as well as the spinners that we could have gone to and when we did they bowled really well.

“It is really good signs that there are options like that for the captain going forward."

The Steelbacks now have three points from two rounds of games, following the abandonment of Thursday's scheduled opener at Bristol against Gloucestershire.

They play their first home game of the tournament on Sunday when they entertain Somerset Sabres at the County Ground (2pm start).