Brookes believes squad depth has been key to success

Henry Brookes believes Sunday’s hard-fought victory over Durham is the perfect preparation for the Vitality Blast knock-out stages.

Bears face Essex at Edgbaston on Thursday, knowing that one more win will ensure they head to Finals Day in excellent form. Mark Robinson’s have won 11 of 14 group games with the latest triumph being their seventh in a row. 

“Everyone’s over the moon and we’ve had a very good group stage,” said Brookes. “We’ve won 11 games, played some great cricket and we feel we’re in a good place as a side. 

“We’ve won all sorts of games and today ended up being a little more trickier than we’d have liked. Hopefully, that gets us battle hard and ready for the quarter-finals.”

Speaking post-match, Brookes was named Talbots Law Player of the Match with significant contributions with both bat and ball.

The award has been shared amongst the squad in recent weeks with Brookes praising the depth of squad in the dressing room.

“I’ve been working on my batting this year and trying to hit as many balls possible,” added Brookes. “I haven’t been needed as much this year, so to get a few over the rope was nice. We talk about match ups and that was mine with a left-hander from one end with the wind helping.

“With the ball, it was a different role for me today as I only got one over in powerplay, but a lot more in the middle. We were very clear in our plans, so it was nice to execute.

“There’s been different people winning this award most weeks, so we’ve got great depth. It’s good to see different people winning games at different stages as it means we’re in a good place.”