NatWest T20 Blast: Laurie Evans prepares for quarter-final push

In his latest T20 Blast column for Sky Sports, Birmingham Bears batsman Laurie Evans prepares for a quarter-final push, talks about his brother's link with Wimbledon star Marcus Willis, and reveals how he lost out in his Euro 2016 sweepstake...

We are just a few of wins away from securing a quarter-final spot in the NatWest T20 Blast, and have four big games coming up in the next seven days where we hopefully make sure of it.

The team is in good shape despite losing out in the last two games. We know when we get it right, we play an excellent brand of cricket for this format.

First up on Friday night is a re-match with local rivals Worcestershire. They beat us convincingly at Edgbaston earlier in the year, so you could say we owe them. The derby is something that the supporters love and so it's always a special occasion for the players.

Then on Tuesday we're live in front of the Sky cameras playing Northamptonshire, who are joint top of the North Group with Nottinghamshire. It should be a great game.

Matthew Wade has come in as our overseas player, in place of Luke Ronchi. Although I'm gutted I didn't manage to get Luke back for drenching me with a water balloon earlier in the summer, Wadey has been an excellent replacement.

He was my travel partner up to our game at Yorkshire. We had a good chat and got to know each other well, talking all things cricket, from the Ashes to the IPL and Australian domestic cricket.

He can't believe how much cricket we play in our own domestic league compared to Australia, but I won't open that can of worms any further!

I got a few runs in the game at Headingley, and felt like I was striking the ball well, but sadly we couldn't quite get over the line, losing by just two runs!

I also hit fifty a couple games back against Leicestershire, this time on the winning end of a result, sealing it with a six.

My brother Oliver came to watch that game, so it was nice to be able to score a few runs and put on a bit of a show for him.

Oli is a budding sportsman too - he was a professional tennis player until he was 19, and used to play against Marcus Willis, who played Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Marcus getting to the second round really gripped the nation, and it was awesome to see Andy Murray manage to win in the final there for the second time.

My brother sadly had one too many injuries to make it in tennis, but after taking up rugby at Bath University, he has now joined Nottingham Rugby. I can't wait to make a quick trip up the motorway to watch him.

Euro 2016 has come to an end, and I must admit, I am missing it already. More important than Portugal winning it was that Boyd Ranking won the Warwickshire team sweepstakes. I had Germany and so was feeling pretty confident until it all went wrong against France in the semi-final!

Anyway, back to the cricket, it's a big couple of weeks ahead for the club. I am really looking forward to it and eager to help get us to the knockout rounds of the Blast.

Watch Sussex face Hampshire in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday from 6.45pm on Sky Sports 2. Then see Laurie Evans in action for the Birmingham Bears against Northamptonshire on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports 2 from 6pm.

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