Ripley wants Steelbacks to bring it home

David Ripley has urged his Steelbacks stars to bring it home after booking their place in the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast.
David Ripley is demanding another big performance at Headingley on Friday night (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)David Ripley is demanding another big performance at Headingley on Friday night (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
David Ripley is demanding another big performance at Headingley on Friday night (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

Ripley is desperate for his men to make sure that next month’s last-eight tie will be held at the County Ground.

For that to happen, the Steelbacks, who currently sit top of the North Group on run rate, will need to finish in the top two.

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And with their advantage over the third-placed side now even greater with just two games to go, Ripley wants his men to finish the group-stage job.

“We want to be at home,” said the head coach.

“It works for us with the crowd, it works for us financially, it works for us with the boundary sizes. We can control the boundary sizes and we’re more about boundaries than we are running twos.

“It’s important we’re at home.

“At the start of the competition our goal was to get through, but we’re so close and I imagine one win might get a home tie for us.

“It would be a big advantage.”

The Steelbacks, who thrashed Birmingham Bears by 74 runs at the County Ground on Tuesday, can secure that home tie by beating Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley on Friday night.

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And Ripley said: “We played really well on Tuesday but it doesn’t guarantee we’ll go out and be at our best on Friday.

“We’ve got to get things right, we’ve got to think about the things we’ve done well on Tuesday and do that against Yorkshire on Friday.

“But history this season suggests we’re having more good days than bad days and I’m sure Yorkshire will be looking at how they can turn us over.

“But we’re confident, we’re playing well, we’re already in the quarter-finals so there’s a different type of pressure playing for a home tie than there is playing to get through.

“We’ll enjoy it.”