Steelbacks fit and raring to go for the big weekend

The Northamptonshire head coach has had a couple of days to take stock since his side’s fantastic win over Somerset and is pleased all of his in-form men should be available.

They now have a crucial weekend that will go a long way to shaping their chances of success in the competition.

The County currently sit top of the Midlands, Wales and West group and possess the best record in the competition across all three sections.

And they now head in to back-to-back matches against Warwickshire and Worcestershire over the next two days.

“Everyone has pulled up okay since Wednesday so we should be able to name the same team,” Ripley said.

“We had a day off yesterday but today we have been back in practising.

“We’ve been doing some fielding work and trying to crank ourselves up another notch for what is a big weekend for us.

“The games come back to back but we have tried to separate and prepare for them one at a time.

“It’s not easy and it might have been nice to have a day in between to do a bit more preparation.

“But that’s the way the schedule goes and, to be honest, I quite enjoy it.

“Your season gets shaped quite quickly and there is no time to sit about waiting to see what might happen.”

What might happen is they could book their place in the knockout round with a couple of wins over the next two days.

It certainly is an exciting time at Wantage Road.

And Ripley is relishing his involvement.

He added: “There’s no doubt if we have a good weekend we could put ourselves in a very strong position.

“It is nice to be at this stage and going well.

“There are not many counties who can sit there towards then end of July and say they are involved in all three competitions still.

“It’s a good situation for us to be in.

“But they are not dishing out any trophies yet and there is still a lot of work to be done.”