Essex head coach Anthony McGrath has not ruled out the possibility of his side qualifying for the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast.

The Eagles will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins tonight (6:15pm)as they face Middlesex at Lords in the South Group.

They sit sixth in the table after they pulled off a shock eight-wicket victory over high-flying Surrey on Monday night.

Not surprisingly, Essex have named an unchanged side against Middlesex.

But McGrath is confident they can still make the knock-out stages.

He said: ”It was obviously a much-needed win and now we have the chance to build on that with back-to-back matches with Middlesex on Thursday and then Kent Spitfires on Friday.

“Games in T20 come thick and fast, it’s easy to get on a losing run but equally, it’s also possible to put a decent winning run together.

“If we can do that, there are still enough games left for us to qualify for the next stage and that’s what we are aiming for.”

Middlesex sit bottom of the tbale having only won one of their five blast matches so far.

Essex squad to face Middlesex: Will Buttleman, Adam Wheater(wk), Dan Lawrence, Michael Pepper, Jimmy Neesham, Ryan ten Doeschate, Paul Walter, Simon Harmer(c), Shane Snater, Aron Nijjar, Sam Cook, Tom Westley, Jamie Porter, Jack Ploom