With the County Championship taking a break from the Northamptonshire schedule for a few days, captain Stephen Peters has reflected on his side’s opening quartet of games.
A rain-ruined draw in Glamorgan, with the County well placed to push for victory, was followed by three consecutive victories over Essex, Gloucestershire and Kent which has left them sitting pretty at the top of the Division Two standings.
And Peters has said that while the trio of victories has exceeded his expectations to some degree, he believed that the County set their stall out to start the campaign strongly.
“We were feeling very positive before the season started,” he said.
“It might look surprising to some but I said the the lads that I expected to do well in the first month.
“If we were going to be realistic about getting promotion then we had to have good performances and get something from those games.
“If we want to do well then we should expect to play good cricket and not be surprised when we do.”
And he reserved mention for the victory down in Canterbury which he thinks was the pick of the bunch.
He added: “I was really pleased with the win in Kent.
“They’ve got a lot of experienced cricketers and I expected a really hard four days.
“To play like we did on a good pitch against a good side was a pleasure to see and that is the kind of performance that we need to keep producing.”
Leicestershire are up next with the Foxes at the County Ground from next Wednesday, and Peters has sounded a word of warning to his charges ahead of a contest that will see the County go in as firm favourites.
He said: “I think that they are all big games and that starts with Leicestershire next week.
“We should be confident and we have to give another solid performance.
“The minute we switch off we’ll get turned over, we have to play our best cricket to win matches and that’s something that I’ll be drumming home.”