Notts Outlaws travel to Canterbury for the final match in the group stages of this summer's YB40 competition, to face a Kent Spitfires side who were subjected to a seven wicket defeat at Trent Bridge in May.
However, with form hard to find for the Outlaws, bowler Jake Ball is aware of the importance of this fixture. A win would seal qualification into the competition's semi-finals, anything less and Notts would have to rely on results elsewhere to progress.
“This match is a quarter final for us,” he said.
“If we don’t win, we’re relying on Warwickshire to beat Northants and we don’t want to be doing that.
“We’ve been playing ‘half games’ recently. One match we’ll bowl very well and the batsmen won’t fire and the next we’ll set a big total but be unable to kill it off.
“We need to turn that into a complete performance.”
"We’re a tight-knit group in the dressing room, and we believe in each other." Jake Ball
The Outlaws travel to Canterbury after disappointing defeats against Yorkshire and Sussex, but Ball was confident that the squad have the quality and mentality to turn the corner and overcome the Spitfires.
“Morale is a bit low at the moment, there’s no denying that,” said Ball.
“But we’re a tight-knit group in the dressing room, and we believe in each other.
“A win at Kent would be excellent for us personally, a home semi-final and possibly a trip to Lord’s would be massive for the club.”
“Do that, and we can kick off for the rest of the season and do well.”
Notts will be boosted by the return of batsman James Taylor from international duty with England Lions, and with him, the squad face the prospect of three wins separating them from the YB40 trophy.
“The YB40 is a hard competition to win, and this season has been the opposite of last year,” said Ball.
“We started poorly and were playing catch up, but to be top of the group at this stage after a couple of bad results, we’d have taken that at the start of the season.
“It’ll be an interesting one, Kent have nothing left to play for in the competition, but there’s always a chance that it’ll be a banana skin for us.
“We need to go there with no fear of failure, and turn in that complete performance.
“If you look at the firepower in the team we have, we can go on and win this tournament.”
Notts Outlaws squad to face Kent Spitfires (from): Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, James Taylor, Samit Patel, David Hussey, Riki Wessels, Chris Read (c), Steven Mullaney, Ajmal Shahzad, Jake Ball, Harry Gurney, Graeme White.