Matthew Breetzke: Northants batter targets first T20 century

Breetzke arrived at Wantage Road last month, four days after playing for South Africa in a T20 series in the Caribbean, and marked his second appearance with an unbeaten 51 off 30 balls against Notts Outlaws.

Only Rishi Patel of Leicestershire and Surrey’s Jamie Smith have scored more runs so far in the Blast this year, with 281 and 276 respectively.

“The first week (here) was tough, I couldn’t sleep because of a little bit of jet lag but I’ve settled in nicely now, I’m getting used to the wickets and the weather, and hopefully a couple more big scores (are coming up),” Breetzke said.

Northants, winners in 2013 and 2016, are fourth in North Group with four victories from six matches, but have a game in hand on two of the three teams above them.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position but the nice thing is we’re winning those tight games,” Breetzke added.

“We take a lot of confidence from that. We’ve got a couple of big games coming up and if we can get over the line there, then Finals Day is around the corner.”

Breetzke – who has hit 16 T20 half-centuries in total in his career – said he would be thrilled if he could finally achieve his goal of a century on Finals Day at Edgbaston.

He added: “That’s the dream of dreams. Hopefully it happens.”

Northants are away to Birmingham Bears on Thursday evening before a home match against Leicestershire Foxes 24 hours later.