Richard Dawson’s side have made a sluggish start to the competition that they so famously won last season – losing all three of their opening group games – but the head coach is backing his players to bounce back from ‘a bad week’.

He said: “No-one is kidding themselves, we have had a bad week and we want to bounce back from it.

“All the players want to do well and if the attitude is right and the effort is there that is all you can ask.

“We have made mistakes which have cost us so far, put us on the back foot and put the opposition in the ascendancy.

“You could argue with hindsight that on good pitches we should have had 50-60 more runs, and that in the field we have not hit the standards we set for ourselves. We have not looked at the table since the first match.

“We try and win the game that’s in front of us, that’s all you can deal with.

“Afridi is a dangerous player. It is not just about his power hitting with the bat, he has also transformed his game so that he is one of the best one day bowlers as well.

“We have got to trust what we do and be more consistent with it.

“We have done some good stuff, now it is about committing to the plan, thinking about decisions in the game and using our skills better than we have done.

“We want a dry day and a win. It is pretty simple really.”

Left-arm seam bowler David Payne could return to the side having missed four of the last five limited overs games with an ankle injury – and Dawson will select from a 14-man squad for this afternoon’s clash.

The head coach said: “David had played a lot of Championship cricket in the first part of the season.

“We knew that with a busy schedule we couldn’t keep using the same bowlers and Matt Taylor has come in and bowled really well. Selection is not always about form, it is about tactics and using the squad sensibly.”

A reminder the match starts at 2.00pm with gates open from 12 noon.

Tickets can be purchased or collected on the gate.

Squad: Klinger (c), Dent, Cockbain, Roderick, Marshall, Howell, Noema-Barnett, J.Taylor, Smith, Miles, Norwell, M. Taylor, Van Buuren, Payne.