Leicestershire are hoping to carry momentum gained in their dominant Vitality Blast victory over Birmingham last Friday into a key match against Notts Outlaws this week.
The Foxes were defeated/victorious against Lancashire Lightning on Wednesday and travel to Trent Bridge to take on their local rivals on Friday.
And they do so full of confidence after hammering last year's finalists Birmingham by a massive 100 runs in front of a stunned Edgbaston crowd.
Every player made a contribution, with the highlights a stunning century from Ben Raine, his first for Leicestershire in any format, made off just 41 balls, and a T20 career-best 4-20 for Callum Parkinson.
The hugely experienced Mark Cosgrove, who put on 142 with Raine for Leicestershire's third wicket (a Foxes record) described Raine's knock as the best T20 innings he had ever seen.
“From where I'm batting, at ten, I could sit back and enjoy it, the power and skill and execution made it a pleasure to watch, and I don't think anyone in the ground will forget it,” agreed Parkinson.
“It was a complete performance, one we've been striving for, with Ben the obvious stand-out, but the bowlers all played their part too.
"It can take a bit of time for players to fully adjust to T20 and to understand the roles they're required to play, but I think the lads are settled now and enjoying playing with each other.”
Parkinson is also relishing watching and learning from the canny slow bowling of Afghan international Mohammad Nabi, who as well as picking up five wickets, has the best economy rate of the regular bowlers.
“He's very hard to set yourself to hit, because he varies his speed so well. [Bowling coach] Matt Mason has encouraged all the bowlers to be brave in that respect, and we're trying to take that on board.”
Head coach Paul Nixon said Raine's innings ranked alongside some of the best played by West Indian big-hitters Andre Russell and Chris Gayle – and is hoping to see his all-rounder make a similarly sizeable contribution against Notts.
“Ben is a focused individual who wants to win cricket matches, he has a lot of belief but outstanding contributions at the right time magnify that belief,” said Nixon.
“We did a lot of work with him pre-season, getting his alignment right, he bought into it and he's seeing the fruits of that labour. Now it's time for him to put good back to back performances together.”
So far this season Leicestershire have beaten Northants and Birmingham away, and lost to Notts and Durham at home, but Nixon is hopefuly his players can reward the Fischer County Ground faithful with a strong performance against Lancashire.
“We didn't have a great PowerPlay against Durham and then we played [leg-spinner] Imran Tahir poorly, but we've learned from that.
"Having Mohammad Nabi really contributing is very important, his bowling at Edgbaston the other night was world class, helping Callum Parkinson and giving confidence to others: he's very clever at reading batsmen, and varying his pace, length and line accordingly.
“Yes, Lancashire beat us at Oakham but this is a different format, and a different pitch. We're a more confident side now, the way we played at Edgbaston proved that, and we'll be ready for them, as we will for Notts on Friday, where Cameron Delport made a brilliant century last season. We know we can beat these big clubs.”
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Notts Outlaws play local rivals Leciestershire Foxes tonight (Friday 20 July) from 6.30pm. Secure your seats on the gate, or by clicking here...