Vasconcelos insists Steelbacks can still 'put it right' and 'build momentum' in Blast

And he insists the belief is still there in the Northants camp that they can rise up the North Group table and claim a top four finish and place in the quarter-finals.

The Steelbacks are currently down in seventh place, having lost three of their first four matches, with all of the losses coming at Wantage Road.

The latest was Wednesday night's 21-run reverse at the hands of early leaders Birmingham Bears, who have chalked up four wins out of four and already look a shoo-in for a top two finish, especially as they will now also be able to add Moeen Ali to their line-up on his return from the Indian Premier League.

It was another disappointing performance from David Willey's side, with some erratic bowling, dropped catches and tentative batting seeing them well beaten.

One of the big positives of the night was the batting of Vasconcelos, who hit 13 fours on his way to 65 from 39 balls, in an innings full of classic cricket shots mixed with innovation.

And he says he and his team-mates will be doing all they can to turn their form around and get moving up the table.

The Foxes game is the fourth in five at home for Northants, who next week have a testing week on the road when they travel to Worcestershire (Sunday), Durham (Tuesday) and Birmingham (Friday).

So they really could do with going into that batch of games with a win under their belts, although there is the fact their only win of the competition so far was at Derbyshire on Monday.

"All the matches important, and we pride ourselves on kind of winning at home most of the time," said the left-hander.

"It has been disappointing to lose three on the bounce here (at the County Ground), but if we can put it right against Leicester then we can start to build momentum.

"Games come really thick and fast, really quick, and who knows? By the end of next week we could be right back up near the top with four wins.

"That is what we have to keep holding on to."

Reflecting on the loss to Bears that also saw the Steelbacks penalised for failing to bowl their overs in the allotted time - which meant they had to have an extra fielder in the inner cordon for the final over - Vasconcelos admitted it wasn't good enough.

"We are just a bit short in all areas, with bat, ball and in the field," he said.

"Then there was even the time taken between overs, it is just basic things we pride ourselves on, that the best teams do, and the teams that go on to win it do.

"We are not doing that at the minute, so we need to dust ourselves off and make sure we put those things right in the next game.

"We have to stay positive.

"You have to stay level. Whether you lose or win, you have to stay level, you can't be roller-coastering on things.

"As I have said, our basics let us down, there were drops, missed chances and things like that, and they are simple things we can put right very easily and be right in the mix again.

"It is a long competition, there are plenty of games to go, and momentum us a funny thing.

"If you start going on a roll, then who knows where you can end up?

"We certainly haven't given up just yet."