Struggling Steelbacks have to quickly discover a winning one day formula

But he knows they have to find a winning formula, and quickly.

The County go into Friday's clash at Durham having lost all three of their matches, something which is of huge frustration for Sadler, who believes his team should instead be sitting top of the pile with three wins under their belts.

They have five group matches remaining, and are in all likelihood going to need to win all of them to stand a chance of clinching a top three finish.

Three of those remaining games are at the County Ground, with the first of those against Worcestershire on Sunday (Aug 4), but first the Steelbacks must travel to Chester-le-Street for what is a must-win game.

And Sadler, who admits his team has been 'inconsistent', is backing his players to find their form in the north east and belatedly kick-start their campaign.

"I think we should have won all three games to be honest," declared Sadler.

"We were in the position to win them all, and have come out of the games on the wrong end of things.

"We were in the position to win at Hampshire but the injury to Jack White was not ideal, and had the game almost won against Derbyshire, certainly with the ball, where we could have killed that one.

"Then down at Radlett, we looked out of the game at five down after 20-odd overs with most of our senior batters gone, and I thought we did brilliantly to get into a position to win.

"But Middlesex paced their innings well, showed their experience, so credit to them, but the fact is we could have played three, won three, which is the frustration.

"So I think we have been mixed, a little bit inconsistent, and we need to change that pretty quickly otherwise this tournament's going to go isn't it?

"There are some shining lights, and Gus Miller has come through and shown that he is a first-team cricketer and is growing every game and improving every day, as are others, but it is very frustrating."

The Steelbacks travel to Durham less than month after winning there in the T20 Blast, although that match was reduced to an eight-overs-a-side slog due to rain.

Durham will be without five key players for the clash with the Steelbacks due to Hundred commitments, and they are Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Callum Parkinson and Nathan Sowter. And Sadler believes the match is a great chance for the Steelbacks to get back on track.

"We know Durham are a good side, and we know they have got a few players missing due to The Hundred," said the head coach.

"We have pretty much got almost a full squad to pick from and we should be going up there to challenge."

Northants have added Ben Sanderson and Freddie Heldreich to their squad from the one that lost at Middlesex, with Emilio Gay being left out following the news that he will be leaving the club at the end of the current season.

Jack White is expected to be fit after missing Monday’s loss with a knee injury.

Northants Steelbacks squad v Durham: Lewis McManus, George Bartlett, Justin Broad, Mike Finan, Freddie Heldreich, Rob Keogh, Gus Miller, James Sales, Ben Sanderson, Prithvi Shaw, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Raphy Weatherall, Jack White, Saiz Zaib

Durham squad: Colin Ackermann, Scott Borthwick, Jonathan Bushnell, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, George Drissell, Ollie Gibson, Daniel Hogg, Michael Jones, Mitchell Killeen, Alex Lees, Stanley McAlindon, Ben McKinney, James Minto. Haydon Mustard