Steelbacks can't afford to stay in a spin as they head to Derbyshire

Nathan Sowter traps tom Taylor lbw in Durham's 10-wicket thrashing of the Steelbacks on Friday night (Picture: Peter Short)

Northants travel to Derbyshire Falcons on Monday afternoon (start 3pm), still searching for their first win of the competition after two resounding home defeats last week.

Wednesday night's 15-run loss at the hands of Worcestershire Rapids was followed by a 10-wicket thrashing against Durham Jets.

In both matches the Steelbacks suffered calamitous batting collapses, losing five wickets for 25 runs against Rapids and then five wickets for just 17 against Durham.

The Steelbacks batters had no answer to the bowling of leg-spinner Nathan Sowter on Friday (Picture: Peter Short)

And the style of bowling doing the damage on both occasions was leg-spin, with Usama Mir and Brett D'Oliveira claiming three for 21 and three 28 respectively for Worcester, and Nathan Sowter bagging five for 15 for Durham.

Indeed, Sowter would have finished with six for 11 if a fielder hadn't made a hash of a straightforward chance off Lewis McManus on the deep square-leg boundary off the final delivery of his spell, the catch being dropped with the ball then dropping over the boundary.

The statistics make worrying reading, with the record of leg-spinners against the Steelbacks in the Blast this year currently ready 12 overs bowled with 11 wickets taken for 64!

"We have now been outdone by three leg-spinners so far in two games," admitted Sadler.

"They have completely ripped us apart in the middle, so we have to kind of look at how we are going to go about that.

"We have to come back better and stronger, it is as simple as that.

"There is still a very, very long time in this competition, but time will quickly run out if we don't click into gear."

The Steelbacks definitely struggled to handle Sowter, as he pinned Tom Taylor and Rob Keogh leg before wicket, and had Ricard Vasconcelos and AJ Tye caught behind.

But against Rapids, a lot of the damage was self-inflicted, with David Willey, Saif Zaib, Rob Keogh and Lewis McManus caught going for big attacking shots.

And Sadler says his players may have to have a bit of a rethink the next time they come against leg-spin, which is likely to be Monday and Derbyshire's Mattie McKiernan.

"We talk about new batters going in, taking the inititative and being positive and taking the positive option," said the head coach.

"But there is also the balance of managing your risk a little bit and giving yourself time to get in.

"It's about giving yourself the chance to get a feel of pitch and get a feel of the pace of the pitch."