Steelbacks head coach Sadler says slow start the reason for Blast elimination

The head coach was speaking after watching his side lose by six wickets to Lancashire Lightning in their final North Group match of the summer at Old Trafford on Sunday.

It was a defeat that ended Northants' hope of reaching the quarter-finals, although as it turned out even a win in the north west wouldn't have been enough to secure a top four finish, with Notts Outlaws beating Leicestershire Foxes to seal fourth place.

The loss did mean the Steelbacks finished a disappointing seventh place, with 12 points from their 14 matches, four points off the top four, and 10 points adrift of North Group winners Birmingham Bears.

Northants never recovered from losing their opening three matches of the campaign, all at home, with an overall record of five defeats in seven at the County Ground ultimately proving to be their downfall.

Hopes had been high going into the summer that the Steelbacks could mount a serious challenge to reach a first Finals Day since they last won the tournament in 2016.

Chris Lynn was re-signed after a stunning 2022 campaign in Steelbacks colours, fellow Australian and four-times Big Bash League winner AJ Tye was recruited, arriving in Northampton as the only bowler to have claimed 300 T20 wickets, and homegrown hero and England all-rounder David Willey returned to the club from Yorkshire.

Willey was also made captain on the eve of the tournament, replacing Josh Cobb, who had been the club's white ball skipper since 2019.

That move and the signings didn't have the desired effect though and the campaign has ended in disappointment, with the team again failing to reach the knockout stages, something they have now only managed to do once in the past seven years.

That is a bitter blow for Sadler and the club to swallow, and the head coach says attention will now turn to improving the T20 team for the 2024 season, while admitting frustration at his team's slow start to this campaign.

"We will look at what we need to bring in," Sadler told BBC Northampton.

"We are very confident in the nucleus we have got moving forward that we can become that T20 side that challenges for knockout stages year in, year out.

"It is disappointing at the minute, it is disappointing not to qualify.

"It is a very, very tough league as we have seen, and we just did not play good enough cricket in the first half of the tournament.

"That meant we left ourselves with too big a challenge when we did get some momentum."

At Old Trafford, Lynn top-scored with 35 from 25 balls and Justin Broad made 34 not out from 26 as the Steelbacks struggled to 138 for seven, with England left-arm quick Luke Wood claiming three for 17.

Steelbacks did make early inroads as Lightning slipped to 38 for two, with Tom Taylor finishing with two for 32, but England opener Phil Salt saw the home side to victory at 139 for four with an unbeaten 74 from 51 balls.

Lightning won it with 3.2 overs to spare, and Salt said he and his team-mates were always confident of claiming the win.

“It was set up beautifully by Woody and the rest of the lads with the ball," said the T20 World Cup winner.

“That was a total we felt we were always going to chase here. We lost one or two more wickets than we’d like to, but it was a job well done.

“If one of their top four had gone on, we could have been chasing 30 or 40 more.

“But at the halfway stage we were confident."

As they are not involved in the Blast quarter-finals, Northants now have a free week before resuming their LV= Insurance County Championship campaign against Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' School Ground in Northwood next Monday (July 10).