From The Bear Pit

Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton looks ahead to tonight’s quarter-final clash against Hampshire.

We’ve played consistently well throughout what has been a long group stage, so ahead of tonight’s game I’m just looking for the guys to play with the same confidence that we’ve showed so far.

We’ll be going in with pretty much the same formula we’ve been using all year, so it’s just got to be a case of more of the same.

We had another good win yesterday - against Leicestershire in the CB40 - with Carts, Westwood and Ant Botha all in good form, so we know we’re capable of putting some big totals on the board.

Similarly, our bowling has been top notch this year, so we know we have plenty of options with the ball if we need to change things about at any point.

We’ve reached a lot of quarter-finals in the last few years without getting back to Finals Day, but we can’t think about that tonight. The main thing is to treat it like any other game and to play with the same enjoyment that we shown so far.

The team that stays the most relaxed is usually the one that wins, and if you can cope with the pressure deliveries as a batsman or a bowler you’ll come out on top more often than not.

As for Hampshire, they’re well led by Dominic Cork and have a dangerous batting line-up. They’ve been a bit hot and cold in this competition so far, so hopefully we can catch them on a cold day, but we just need to focus on our own game first and foremost.

Finals Day is a real highlight of the year. I played in the first one and it was a great day, so it would be nice to go back as captain and lead a side in front of so many fans.

Obviously, our form in the one-day competitions has been much better than what we’ve achieved in the Championship, but if we can make it through tonight’s match it could give us the boost we need to get our four-day season back on track.

It can be difficult to perform consistently across all competitions, and last year we saw Sussex win the Twenty20 but get relegated in the Championship, but, rest assured, we’ll be giving our very best to win whatever colour kit and whatever the format. Starting tonight, of course.