Aussie import Tye admits Steelbacks frustrated by Blast inconsistency

​AJ Tye admits the Steelbacks dressing room is a very frustrated place.

The Australian pace bowler is a little over halfway through his Vitality Blast stint with Northants, and is the first to admit that, so far, things haven't quite gone to plan.

The winter signings of four-time Big Bash League winner Tye and England T20 World Cup winner David Willey, who was also made captain, along with the return of big-hitting Chris Lynn, raised hopes among Steelbacks supporters they could be title contenders this summer.

But with eight of 14 North Group matches played, the Steelbacks are second bottom having won just three times, and know they have to produce almost perfect cricket over the final six group fixtures to seal a place in the quarter-finals.

The team's performances have been very inconsistent and have attracted criticism from some quarters, but Tye says there is nobody more mystified at how things are going than the players.

"It is very frustrating indeed," said Tye when asked about the campaign so far.

"You can't gloss over the fact it’s a new changing room, there are new players in that environment, and that can cause disruption to anyone.

"It could just be the simple thing of a person batting in just one position different, and things like that can take a little bit of time, they can be teething issues.

"But the boys have all been on board with everything, and the want, the need and the hunger is there, we just haven't quite been able to get it right.

"Maybe we are putting too much pressure on ourselves to perform and that is where it has gone wrong, but hopefully we can get it right in these crucial five games in the next eight days or so."

The Steelbacks face a huge week in their bid to make the quarter-finals.

They entertain Lancashire Lightning on Friday night and Notts Outlaws on Sunday afternoon, travel to Yorkshire Vikings on Tuesday, play host to Derbyshire on Wednesday and then travel to Leicestershire Foxes next Friday!

They will go into that make-or-break eight-day spell off the back of a week off following last Friday's desperately disappointing loss at Birmingham Bears, where Steelbacks failed to chase down 138 to win.

And Tye is hoping the break from action will work for him and his team-mates.

"We are doing everything we can to make sure we are winning games,” said Tye, who returned to training with his team-mates on Wednesday morning.

"Sometimes it doesn't always work out, but we never go out there to try and lose a game, we never mean to misfield a ball or drop any catches.

"But it is professional sport and it can happen.

"You don't want to be peaking too early and then falling away at the back end and not be able to perform in the quarter-finals.

"Hopefully this break that we have just had has come at a good time, and has given us a chance to refresh.

"We can then get out there on Friday night, and if we can get a little bit of momentum we can take that, we can run with it, and who knows?

"Maybe we can win all five of those games and we are then right in the mix for the finals again – that is what we are aiming to do. Hopefully it will all go to plan.”

Tye has started to show the Steelbacks supporters what he is all about in recent games, having endured a difficult start to life at Wantage Road.

Brought in to be the key bowler mid-innings and at the death, Tye was uncharacteristically expensive in his opening matches, with figures of five for 153 in 14 overs in his first four appearances.

But he has now started to find his rhythm, in the past four games claiming seven for 92 in 11.4 overs, and is hoping he can maintain that form for the rest of the campaign.

"I had a tricky start with the ground here and the wicket and getting used to that. I hadn't played here before," said Tye, who has enjoyed previous Blast stints with Gloucestershire and Durham.

"So it was a bit of a slow start and I probably wasn't bowling as well as I would have liked.

"There were also a few frustrating things, such as getting hit for boundaries off last balls of the over.

"That for me is unforgivable, and it just seemed to keep on happening.

"But I am happier with the it has been going, and the way the ball has been coming out, and I don't think I have bowled badly in a game.

"Sometimes I have bowled exactly the right ball and it disappears out of the park, and you can't blame a batsman for playing a good shot!"

Despite things not quite clicking for the team on the pitch, Tye is really enjoying his stint at Wantage Road.

"It's been good," he said. "The weather has been excellent and there is a lovely bunch of guys. It's a great set-up and i have enjoyed my time here.

"It has been tougher as a bowler, but that is the best challenge about over here, every ground has different dimensions, is a different size so it has been a good learning challenge.

"But it is something I pride myself on, figuring out how to bowl on each different wicket."

And on those ground dimensions, particularly at the County Ground, the Perth-born bowler added: "You can bowl a good ball, and if the batsman gets half of it it can go for six.

"Whereas so many other places you play, and some of the other grounds here, such as Durham, it is a bigger ground and mishits get caught.

"Whereas here, mishits can go for six, but that is all part and parcel of it.

"We just have to hope that when our batsmen mishit the ball then it goes for six as well!"

In Australia, Tye plays for his hometown team Perth Scorchers at the enormous WACA ground, and has won the Big Bash League on four occasions, including this year.

He has also played in other T20 competitions around the globe, so how does the Blast shape up against the BBL and elsewhere?

"It is hard to compare them equally, and every competition you go to has its different challenges," said Tye, who is the only bowler to have claimed more than 300 wickets in T20 cricket.

"Here, the wickets tend to be quite flat and there are small grounds, and it can tend to get quite cold at night as well!

"But the standard is excellent,.

"You look at some of the teams that get put out and they are very, very good teams that would be competitive anywhere in the world.”