Derbyshire aim to deliver blow to Nottinghamshire

The Falcons are bottom of the North Group and their chances of making the quarter-finals are slim even if they win their last three matches.

But Chesney Hughes believes the team has made progress this season despite losing eight of their eleven games.

Inconsistent performances have undermined the Falcons although the impressive victory over Notts at Derby last month demonstrates the ability in the team.

“It’s lack of consistency and a lack of experience in winning games so it’s just a case of getting over the line a few times and learning how to close out the game and having the confidence to do it,” Hughes admitted.

“We have improved massively this season compared to last when we didn’t look as if we could win a game. We’ve played to a standard where we’ve competed well and now it’s going that extra step from improving to winning.”

Derbyshire delivered arguably their best T20 performance in several seasons to beat the Outlaws by 34 runs after racking up 201, their second highest total in the competition.

“The way we played against a strong Nottinghamshire team and to show the character we did was a credit to the players,” Hughes said.

“ We batted fearlessly and took it to them. We went hard at their bowling and batted well all the way through in what was a good solid performance which showed our potential as a team.

“If we can get anywhere near that, we can beat Nottinghamshire and the big teams on a regular basis. It’s a case of playing to that standard more days than not.

“We beat them at our place so we are going into the game knowing how to play against them. We ate going to attack them from ball one and go hard at them and play really aggressive cricket to keep them on the back foot. That’s what we did before, we just kept coming at them so that’s what we will be looking to do at Trent Bridge.

“We’ve got to win our last three games , we certainly haven’t given up at all in the competition and we want to show that on Friday.”