Adam Hose says the Bears are looking sharp and ready after all their T20 warm-ups and practice and now it's "all eyes on Thursday" and their Vitality Blast opener against Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley.
The Bears launch their group campaign with three away games in four days – at Yorkshire on Thursday, then Notts Outlaws on Friday and Derbyshire on Sunday.
Further away games follow next week at Northampton and Leicester, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Five away matches on the bounce is a tough way to start, but batting ace Hose reckons it gives the Bears a great chance to really assert themselves in the group before they play the latter stages primarily back on home turf at Edgbaston.
“Hopefully we can make a few home fans grumpy over the next week,” he said. “It is a tricky first week but, with the players we have got, there is no reason why we can’t get a few wins that would give us a great springboard for when we get back to play our games at Edgbaston.
“We all just can’t wait to get going. We have had some really good warm up games and a lot of the guys have put in performances. The batters and bowlers are looking ready and we’re looking sharp in the field.”
The Bears will look to Hose for some power-hitting at the top of the order after he showed what he could do with a brilliant century against Northants Steelbacks (119 from 64 balls with nine fours and seven sixes) in the last group match last season.
The former Somerset player is looking forward to trying to nail down that T20 opening slot with some big innings to pave the way for the big-hitting later batsmen like West Indies star Carlos Brathwaite to be able to come in and hit without pressure.
“Carlos is a great addition to the squad. He has shown his class with bat and bat in the warm-ups. I have felt sorry for the bowlers – sometimes you just can’t bowl at the big man!
Adam Hose
“The perfect scenario is for myself and the other guys at the top to score runs so that Carlos and the other guys in the middle can then come in and really take the game away from the opposition.
“I’m really looking forward to opening. I used to do it quite a lot but then dropped down the order, so it’s great to be back up there and hopefully I can give the guys some good starts throughout the tournament.”
