Blast Preview: Steelbacks v Bears

Birmingham Bears visit Northamptonshire Steelbacks tomorrow (6.30pm) at the start of what captain Will Rhodes describes as a "huge" double-header in 24 hours.

Fuelled by momentum from excellent wins in Nottingham and Derby, the Bears continue their East Midlands tour with games at Northampton tomorrow (6.30pm) and Leicestershire Foxes (6.45pm) on Wednesday.

Then at last will come the first home game, against Lancashire Lightning on Friday (6.30pm), into which the Bears will take some serious momentum if they maintain the fine form of the last two outings.

"Games come thick and fast in the Blast and if you can get some wins, particularly on the road, you become a very dangerous team," said Rhodes. "Two wins from three is a good start and now we have two more games back-to-back and we know they are huge for us.

"With two wins already, a good couple of days now and we would be flying when we get back to Edgbaston for our first home game on Friday."

Chris Woakes is again available tomorrow after returning to the side at Derby on Sunday and contributing vital runs and wickets. It was a late salvo of boundaries from Woakes and Carlos Brathwaite which ultimately settled a tight match in the Bears' favour.

"We chased it down beautifully in the end," said Rhodes. "It was a tight game on a good wicket and quite a big field in comparison to the previous two games so we had to adapt. Dan Mousley played it really nicely, supported by Sam Hain and Michael Burgess, and then our two big guys saw us home.

Adam Hose and Henry Brookes remain sidelined by hamstring and thigh injuries respectively while Rob Yates is still ruled out by illness. Olly Stone is unavailable due to England duty but is expected to return against the Lancashire at Edgbaston on Friday.

Squad

Will Rhodes (C), Carlos Brathwaite, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Ethan Brookes, Michael Burgess, Sam Hain, Olly Hannon-Dalby, Jake Lintott, Pieter Malan, Craig Miles, Dan Mousley, Ed Pollock, Chris Woakes

How to follow

Warwickshire Members and supporters will be able to follow all the action via the Match Centre on edgbaston.com and through the Edgbaston app (available for free on iOS and Android).