Jake Ball says Notts Outlaws are embarking on NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day with belief that they can win from any situation.
The Outlaws are unbeaten in nine matches heading into the last-four tie against Northamptonshire Steelbacks, something Ball believes provides welcome momentum.
“Winning is a habit and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve found ways to win games.
“You saw with the Essex game in the quarter-final, we were behind the eight-ball when Jesse Ryder was going, but we found a way.
“We squeezed them and eventually came out with the win, and that gives us great confidence.
“We’ve done a lot of batting second and chasing runs down, but that proved we can defend scores as well, so we’re taking a lot of confidence from that into Finals Day.
“We believe while we’re out that it just takes one over, or one bit of magic, because a T20 game is so short.
“Two quick wickets or an unbelievable catch or run out can completely change the game.
“We definitely have the players to perform those overs or take those catches.”
With Notts’ most recent finals day appearance coming back in 2010, Ball has never played in the showpiece occasion. In fact, he has never attended finals day.
He has, however, seen enough to know that winning would be a career highlight – and the size of the stage, bearing in mind his international ambitions, is not lost on the 25-year-old.
“It always looks like a great day, a great crowd gets down there, so I’m really looking forward to it.
“It’s nice that we’ve got the first game, so we won’t have any time hanging around.
“It’ll be straight in, straight onto the field. I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we can come home with the trophy.
“If you ask any professional sportsman why they play the game, it’s to win trophies and make memories.
“That’s what we’re aiming to do at the moment in this T20 comp.
“We’ve played some great cricket, played some unbelievable games
“If you’d have asked me at the start of the season about getting into the England team, I thought it would’ve been white ball cricket – and I still feel I have a lot to offer with the white ball.
“Hopefully I can showcase what I can do in what is going to be the biggest stage of the white ball season.”
While his own season with the red ball has been stellar, the Notts & England pacemen has been unable to prevent his home county from slipping to the bottom of the Specsavers County Championship.
Ball believes winning a white ball trophy could have a knock-on effect on the red ball campaign.
“The way we’ve been playing in red ball cricket this year has been frustrating.
“But if we can win a trophy, it would obviously give the whole squad a massive confidence boost going into the last few games of the season.
“We need to come good and get a couple of wins under our belt. If you win a couple of games, you can really shoot up the table.
“We definitely believe we can get out of the situation we’re in. Hopefully that momentum can start on Saturday by winning a trophy.
“You sit in your spot in the dressing room, you look around and you’ve got international quality everywhere.
“We’ve had an awful lot of good, young talent coming through as well. It’s a great squad of players, one that can definitely get us out of the situation we’re in.”
Notts Outlaws squad for NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day (from): Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Dan Christian, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Andre Russell, Greg Smith, Imran Tahir and Riki Wessels.
Notts Outlaws will face Northants Steelbacks in the first NatWest T20 Blast semi-final from 11am at Saturday's Finals Day at Edgbaston.
Visit Trent Bridge Live on Saturday for live commentary, updates, ball-by-ball scorecard and statistics.