Skipper Josh Cobb and Tom Sole are the batting stars as Steelbacks warm up with T20 win double

The local rivals played two T20 practice matches at the County Ground on Thursday, with the Steelbacks claiming their victories in contasting style.

The first saw a dominant batting display from skipper Josh Cobb set up a 46-run success, and the second saw Tom Sole and Saif Zaib come to the fore with the bat to dig the County out of a self-inflicted hole and secure a hard-fought and five-wicket triumph with an over to spare.

Head coach David Ripley rotated his squad for both matches, and will be well pleased with both performances, and in particular the efforts of the inexperienced Sole and Zaib to go out and win a game under pressure.

In the opening encounter, the Steelbacks were comfortable winners, and Cobb was in explosive form.

Cobb was the main man with the bat for Northants, smashing 80 from just 45 balls, with his innings including an incredible nine sixes and one four.

Support came from Adam Rossington who hit six fours and one six in his 44 from 32 balls, while Richard Levi launched a couple of maximums in his 27 from 18 balls.

In reply, the Foxes were hit by a wicket blast as they were reduced to 12 for two and then 40 for four, with left-arm spinner Graeme White grabbing two of the wickets.

Leicestershire did recover, but were never in the hunt for victory as they finished on 142 for four, with Harry Swindells smacking 49 not out from 28 balls and Tom Taylor making 28 from 26.

For the Steelbacks, White finished with two for 21 from his four overs and there were also wickets for Ben Sanderson (1-39) and Nathan Buck (1-23), while bowling economically were Gareth Berg (0-14 from three overs) and skipper Cobb (0-16 from three).

Foxes batted first in the second match, and totalled a useful 171 for five in their 20 overs, mainly thanks to a damaging partnership of 73 between Arron Lilley (45) and Colin Ackermann (42), while James Weighell added a quickfire 29 not out late on.

Glover was the most successful of the Steelbacks seamers, taking two for 33 from his four overs, while there were also wickets and good stints from Blessing Muzarabani (1-27 from four overs), Sanderson (1-33 from four) and Graeme White (1-32 from four).

Skipper Cobb opened the innings by having just one run taken from his off-spin.

Steelbacks, who were without Levi and Alex Wakely from the first game, got their reply off to a flying start as they reached 67 for one by the end of the powerplay, with Vasconcelos hitting 41 of them and that man Cobb 20.

The only man out was Ben Curran, who top edged a catch into the deep.

When Cobb was out for another blistering innings of 33 from just 14 balls, the Steelbacks were very well set at 86 for two from 8.1 overs, but then the Foxes hit back.

Vasconcelos followed soon after Cobb for a well-made 47 from 31 balls, and then Rossington and Rob Keogh went cheaply to leave the Steelbacks in a bit of bother at 122 for five, still needing 50 to win from 33 balls.

Zaib had already shown his attacking intent, and Sole was quick to join in, with the pair slowly and surely bringing the game back the Steelbacks' way.

The 18th over was to prove pivotal, with Sole hammering three boundaries as the over went for 16, and that left the Steelbacks needing 14 to win from two overs.

They only needed one, as Sole again went on the attack to end on an impressive 35 not out from 19 balls, with Zaib an equally important 26 from 18 balls.

The Steelbacks open their Vitality Blast T20 campaign next Thursday when they travel to Bristol to play Gloucestershire.