Northamptonshire’s County Championship schedule takes them to Bristol this week for their third of a four-game block.
It’s been a case of so far, so good for the County with a solid draw in Cardiff followed by an innings thumping of Essex, two performances that have seen them move to the top of the embryonic Division Two table.
But while it would be easy to go with the flow and assume that thwe good form will continue in the south-west, captain Stepehn Peters falls into the school that demands a wiping of the slate prior to the next game.
He said: “We’re a good side but not to good that we don’t have to work hard.
“Practice on Monday was all about doing the same kind of things that we’ve been doing through the winter and in the first few weeks of the season.
“I’m delighted with how we’ve started but we’re not good enough to not put in the effort all of the time.
“There will be no complacency while I’m in charge and I expect another thoroughly professional effort down in Bristol.”
The County Ground usually dishes up a surface that leads to a positive result one way or the other, especially this early in the season, but Peters thinks that the hosts might be a bit more wary of the visitors’ strengths.
He added: “It’s been quite dry over the last week or so so perhaps it won’t be as green as it sometimes is down there.
“If they’ve looked at how well our seamers have done in the two games then it could well be a decent cricket ptich and one where we’ll have to work for our rewards.”
Gloucestershire shared the spoils in a high-scoring draw at Chelmsford in their opening game against Essex and Peters will name the same side.
“Our seamers have had quite a high workload but the extra day off did them some good and everyone has pulled up alright,” he said.
“There will come a point where we’ll have to use our squad but at the moment we’ll stick with the lads who have done well.”
Northants: Peters, Coetzer, Sales, Wakely, Newton, Hall, Murphy, Willey, Middlebrook, Copeland, Crook.