Sadler wants to see Steelbacks finish Blast campaign with a flourish

Wednesday night's six-wicket loss at the hands of Derbyshire Falcons all but ended the Steelbacks' hopes of a top four finish in the North Group and a place in the quarter-finals.

Mathematically there is still a chance, although it is a very, very slim one.

But regardless of that, Sadler still wants his team to do their bit and claim maximum points from their final two games, which are at Grace Road on Friday, and then Lancashire Lightning on Sunday. July 2.

Because even if wins could ultimately leave the Steelbacks short in the group table, they would enhance confidence for the rest of the season ahead.

Friday night's host Leicestershire are going through a difficult time at the moment, with head coach Paul Nixon relieved of his duties after six years in the role, and three senior players all announcing they are leaving the club in the winter after turning down new deals.

Those players are Colin Ackermann, Callum Parkinson and Chris Wright, who has already confirmed he is signing for Sussex.

The Foxes have endured a miserable Blast campaign so far and sit bottom of the table having won just two games out of 11, and the backroom turmoil is hardly going to give them a boost.

"We have to try and win these games and finish as strongly as we can," said Sadler.

"That momentum will then take is on into other formats and moving forward, so we want to try and win these games without a doubt.

"We are behind the eight ball, but we have two big games left and we want to go and win them both."

Sandwiched inbetween the final two T20 matches is the little matter of an LV= Insurance County Championship match against Kent, that starts at the County Ground on Sunday morning (11am).

The likes of Luke Procter, Jack White, Hassan Azad, Gareth Berg and Simon Kerrigan have been getting some red-ball cricket in with the seconds at Yorkshire this week, but for a lot of the players it is going to be a dramatic change of pace.

Ricardo Vasconcelos, Emilio Gay, Saif Zaib, Lewis McManus, Tom Taylor, Ben Sanderson and perhaps even Justin Broad could all feature against Kent, and they will have to change their mindset and gameplans quickly.

"We have a massive T20 game on Friday we want to try to win, and then it is a quick turnaround," admitted Sadler, who is desperate for his team to lift themselves off the bottom of the division one table.

"It will be a quick red ball practice on Saturday, and then go again on Sunday, and we haven't done ourselves justice in the red ball format.

"A few things worked against us at the start of the year with injuries and what not, and we have to focus on that now.

"Hopefully, for the first time, we should have pretty much a full squad to pick from which means we are a strong side, and hopefully we will play some good cricket."