It may have taken the best part of three months but the Steelbacks are finally off the mark in the Clydesdale Bank 40.
A comprehensive eight-wicket defeat of the Unicorns at Wormsley on Sunday moved the County off the foot of the Group C standings and interim head coach David Ripley was happy with the performance.
He said: “We performed pretty well.
“We were a bit slow out of the blocks due to a rushed start becuase of the rain delay and in future we need to get into our stride quicker.
“But once James (Middlebrook) came on and bowled a good spell, we controlled the game from there.
“Once we’d restricted them to a manageable score I had no doubt that we would go on to win the game.”
Ripley had directed attention to the decision to move Rob Newton up to the opening position in the lead-up to the game and the 22-year-old responded with an innings of 45 which got the visitors’ reply off to a strong start.
He added: “We just want Rob to play his natural game in the one-day stuff and it’s easier for him to do that opening.
“It worked well yesterday, he was quickly into his stride with a couple of boundaries in the first over and it enabled us to get out of the blocks quickly which is what we wanted to do.
“If I’m being picky I’d say that he could’ve finished on 80 or 90 not out and that is something for him to aim at to improve his performances.
“But the next two (Alex Wakely and David Sales) took their chances and it was pretty comfortable in the end.”