Tye says there's no room for error as Steelbacks face huge Blast double header

With six matches remaining, Northants find themselves second bottom of a highly competitive North Group, having won just three of their eight games so far.

Successive defeats on the road last week, at Durham and Birmingham, means there is very little, if any, room for error for the Steelbacks if they are to finish in the top four.

They are currently two points off fourth-placed Worcestershire, four off second-placed Bears and six behind leaders Notts Outlaws – who are visitors to the County Ground on Sunday.

Before that, there’s the little matter of a Friday night date with Lancashire Lightning, and asked if the fixtures are 'must-win' for the Steelbacks, Tye admitted: "They are pretty much.

"But sometimes when you get backed into a corner you have nowhere else to go but to fight your way out of it.

"Hopefully that is what we see from the boys this weekend."

Tye is a four-times Big Bash League winner, a veteran of knowing what it takes to win in T20 cricket, and although he accepts he and his team-mates have yet to click, he insists they can still progress to the play-offs.

"There is definitely still time, although we have made it hard for ourselves with some of the games we have got coming up," said the 36-year-old.

"But there is time and we have got it in this group to be able to compete and win games. Some of the games we have lost we should have won.

"We are not far away, and there are just little things we need to tweak with both batting and bowling that go hand-in-hand, and we haven't quite married up yet."

Star-studded Lancashire provide a serious challenge on Friday as they boast a line-up that includes England white-ball batting guns Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt, as well as Kiwis Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme.

"It will be a challenge, but any dog can have it's day and cricket is a funny game, it can be a very good equaliser," said Tye.

"We will just have to wait and see, but we are not put off or scared by their names at all, or their power.

"We will just go and attack them and see what they come back with."

And on bowling to the likes of Buttler and Livingstone?

"I love it, I enjoy it," declared Tye.

"It is a tricky environment to be in, a tricky proposition, but the positive flipside is that you see a lot more of these guys than some of the other players.

"I have played quite a few games against Jos now, I have played with him in competitions.

"I have played with Livi at Scorchers and stuff like that, so you get to know them, you get to know their games.

"That provides me with a bit of an advantage I think, but who knows?"