Steelbacks aiming to make it a super six as they do battle with the Bears

David Willey's Northants have enjoyed a dream start to their 2025 campaign, reeling off five wins out of five, with four of them having come on the road.

The Bears endured a sticky start, losing both of their opening matches, but last weekend they secured two victories on the bounce to get their title bid up and running, and they will arrive at Wantage Road in confident mood.

The Steelbacks are sitting proudly at the top of the table, 12 points clear of fifth-placed Bears, but the Edgbaston side have played a game fewer.

The match will see former England all-rounder Moeen Ali play his final Blast game at the County Ground ahead of his retirement from county cricket later this summer, and he will as always be one of the big threats in the visiting ranks.

Their overseas players are New Zealander batter Tom Latham and Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali, who claimed a hat-trick and career-best T20 figures of six for 23 in the win over struggling Derbyshire Falcons at the weekend.

Their top runscorer this season is the dangerous Sam Hain, who has 181 runs at an average of 90.50, while their top wicket-taker is slow left-armer Danny Briggs, and they also boast the likes of Jake Lintott and England's Dan Mousley in their ranks.

"The Bears are a quality side, and they have some good players," said Steelbacks coach Darren Lehmann.

"We are going to have to be up and about to do our research well and prepare well.

"This (North) group is a tough group, and when you look at it it is really tight.

"We needed to win some games early, and we have done that so far, but now we have three more before we go into the Champo block and they are all at home, so fingers crossed we play well."

The Steelbacks have named an unchaged squad for the clash against the Bears.

Northants squad versus Birmingham Bears: David Willey (c), George Bartlett, Ravi Bopara, Matt Breetzke, Justin Broad, Liam Guthrie, Dom Leech, Lewis McManus, Lloyd Pope, Luke Procter, Ben Sanderson, George Scrimshaw, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib

Bears squad versus Steelbacks: Alex Davies (c), Hassan Ali, Moeen Ali, Ed Barnard, Danny Briggs, George Garton, Sam Hain, Olly Hannon-Dolby, Tom Latham, Jake Lintott, Craig Miles, Dan Mousley, Kai Smith, Rob Yates