THE win over Essex at Cheltenham last week means we’ve qualified for the NatWest T20 Blast quarter finals, writes Andrew Tye.

It’s a great first step but we don’t want to lose any momentum and we will be going all out to try and secure a home quarter final by finishing the group with a win against Middlesex in Bristol on Friday.

There are still tickets left and it would be unbelievable to get a big crowd down to support the lads and help us make sure that the fans have one more T20 game to go to at the Brightside Ground this season.

I am available for the whole competition so hopefully that means I still have four more matches to play, the last group game, the quarter final and two games on finals day!

The boys are feeling confident at the moment and we have a lot of guys coming into some good form.

The way Maxy (Michael Klinger) keeps on churning the runs out – both here and back at home for Perth Scorchers and Western Australia - is phenomenal.

He just keeps it simple, knows his own game well and plays good cricket shots. He doesn’t try to whack it out of the ground or try any of the funky shots too early in his innings – he just proves that a simple plan can be successful in T20.

Having said that he played some great reverse shots against Essex. You never see him practice them but he has the skills to pull them out and execute them when he needs to.

Another guy playing really well at the moment is Ian Cockbain. The way he’s striking the ball at the moment takes pressure off the man at the other end and the batsmen to come because he scores so quickly.

With the ball Benny (Howell) has bowled well even when there have been short boundaries on one side. He takes the pace off and makes the batsmen create something. He is very consistent and forces players to play in a different way.

The other guy who has been top quality this year is Matty Taylor. He has to bowl at the toughest times in T20 – at the start and at the death when batters are really looking to go hard at you.

For him to have had the figures he has is a big part of why we are where we are.

I enjoyed playing at the Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Cricket Festival. The College Ground is a beautiful setting and has a different feel to other venues but I am looking forward to getting back in front of the fans at the Brightside on Friday.

See you there.