NatWest T20 Blast: Laurie Evans chasing silveware with the Bears

In his latest T20 Blast column for Sky Sports, Birmingham Bears batsman Laurie Evans talks about the team's quest for silverware, following England's fortunes at Euro 2016, and getting soaked by Luke Ronchi...

A month into this year's NatWest T20 Blast and we have started solidly.

I have been given the opportunity to move up to four in the batting order, which is great. I haven't managed to make a match-winning contribution just yet, but I know a score in this format is always just around the corner.

Our campaign started with a tough opening fixture away at Nottinghamshire, but young Sam Hain smashed it on his T20 debut with a brilliant 92 not out. Not bad for your first game!

We then lost out to local rivals Worcestershire, live on Sky, but beat Durham in our next game at Edgbaston with Varun Chopra - back in the side in place of an unwell Sam - seeing us home with an unbeaten 97.

It was brilliant stuff from Chops, hitting the ball 360 degrees, though he was cruelly denied a hundred by Will Porterfield! He finished it off in style.

We're next off to Derbyshire on Friday before we're back on Sky on Sunday to play the holders Lancashire. It goes without saying that this will be a huge game - they're defending champs for a reason, and have been a top team in this format for a few years. I always look forward to big games like this, it's the reason why you play.

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We've had a busy schedule of late, and so it's important you get away from cricket on your days off. At the beginning of this week we had a bit of a break and Ian Bell decided to invite the lads round for a barbecue and to watch England's first game at Euro 2016 against Russia.

Like the rest of the country, we were frustrated by the result, and by the weather - it wouldn't be an English summer barbecue without a few drops of rain.

Luke Ronchi decided I wasn't getting wet enough though, so soaked me with a huge water balloon supplied by Belly's little boy.

Jeetan Patel was head chef for the day and provided a great feed, however his sous chef, Sam, offered absolutely nothing, although did at least hand out a few beers.

It was great to see England bounce back with a win on Thursday, though the Welsh in me meant I felt their pain too at conceding so late on, as I have allegiances to both.

The news of Ronchi's call up to the national team is brilliant for him, and will help me stay dry at future team meet-ups! But he will be a big miss for the team. He has played a couple of vital knocks in the games so far, and his experience is invaluable.

Off the field too, Luke has been great to have around. The boys have been taking him out on the golf course and showing him the best pubs around the Midlands.

This week we have announced that Matthew Wade will take over once Luke leaves. I have watched him before for Australia, he will bring a lot to the table and we look forward to welcoming him in to the team.

The next month is pretty busy for us, with the County Championship starting up again, and we're also underway with the Royal London One-Day Cup. We have won one and lost two in the comp so far, having the misfortune to come up against some world class batsmen in Jos Buttler, Michael Lumb and Dan Christian.

Buttler smashed 91 against us for Lancashire, then Lumb hit a hundred and Christian 94 off just 47 balls as Nottinghamshire racked up 415 against us!

We came close in the end with Jonathan Trott scoring a century too, but couldn't quite get over the line.

It's an important time of the season and our results in all competitions over the next few weeks will go a long way to determining whether we will be chasing silverware or not come September. That all starts with the Blast this weekend.

Watch Laurie Evans in action for the Birmingham Bears against Lancashire Lightning in the NatWest T20 Blast on Sunday, live on Sky Sports 2 from 2pm.