Captain Ketts is determined to set record straight in Trophy campaign

James Kettleborough is hoping it's a case of third time lucky when Staffordshire start their Knockout Trophy campaign this weekend.

- Chris Travers

In the two seasons since skipper Kettleborough and head coach Andy Carr took on their respective roles, Staffs have failed to progress from the group stages of the competition.

So Kettleborough, whose side sat out the opening round of fixtures, is looking to buck the trend in what is a frantic start to Staffordshire's 50-over commitments.

They entertain Herefordshire at West Bromwich Dartmouth on Sunday, before hosting Suffolk at Bignall End on Bank Holiday Monday. Both matches start at 11am.

The squad have been putting in the hard yards over the winter as they try to find a winning recipe in the Trophy - and Kettleborough now wants to see the fruits of their labour.

"I'm as confident as I can be heading into the Knockout Trophy," said Kettleborough. "We've had many a conversation and sessions in the winter around the 50-over format and how we go about it. It's now about executing it on the day.

"You can look at some of the performances in the games last week and counties that have been performing year in, year out delivered again.

"It's not just as a simple as us doing our winter work and then thinking that we've cracked it.

"We've done a lot of reflecting on what went wrong and now we want to move forward. We need to go out there and show it.