The county qualified for the last eight by finishing at the head of the group one standings and, with home advantage secured, they will fancy their chances of progressing.

Seamer Chris Goode, the leading wicket-taker in the competition this season, confirmed this belief, saying: "The mentality in the side is good and we've got enough in the tank to go through.

"If we perform like we have been doing so far then there is no reason why we can't."

And Goode praised the attitude of the side which has produced some excellent cricket in a competition that hasn't been too kind to the county in recent seasons.

He said: "We've had a fantastic season so far and everyone's on a high.

"We messed up the last game at Cheshire but the fact we dragged it out until the last over with only 160 on the board shows the spirit we've got at the minute."

Their opponents this weekend finished as runners-up in group four, but Goode admitted that Beds have been approaching games without worrying about who they are coming up against.

He added: "We've been focused on what we're doing so it hasn't really mattered who we've been playing.

"Like everyone else they'll have two opening batsmen and two opening bowlers. A lot of teams have a few good players and they're all pretty similar.

"We just concentrate on what we're doing and we're quietly confident that we can progress a bit further."

The seam bowling trio of Goode, Will Sneath and Marc Jackson, who missed this week's trip to Suffolk for the Championship opener, are expected to return to the line-up and Northants batsman Alex Wakely could feature if he isn't required for County Championship duty.