“We are the first team from the Liverpool Competition to get this far in the national knockout but that is not good enough for us,” said Cole. “We want to give a good account of ourselves and represent the league to the very best of our ability.
“And we are confident that if we play as we did in the semi final, we are going to be very hard to beat.”
Cole also believes that his players will be profit from their previous experience of playing in a high-profile game when they got to the final of the national t20 at Edgbaston a few years ago.
“We made three or four days of it when we went to Edgbaston and visited places like Alton Towers,” he said. “As a result I think that the occasion got to us a little bit and we are determined not to let that happen again.
“A lot of the players who played in the national t20 finals are playing on Sunday and I think the experience we gained at Edgbaston will stand us in good stead.”
As might be expected from a side whose careful preparations have helped to explain their success, Northern are taking no chances in advance of the final.
“Everything’s been carefully planned in the lead up to Sunday,” he explained. “We were delighted that the league let us bring the game against New Brighton forward to last Sunday because that has allowed us to concentrate on the final at Beckenham.
“The ECB have looked after us very well and we will be going down to Kent on Saturday. Before that we will be training at the club on Friday evening.
“We’ve then got the use of the facilities at Beckenham on Saturday afternoon, so we will have a net there and familiarise ourselves with the ground. There is a dinner for the players of both sides on Saturday evening and we are looking forward to that as well.”
Cole and his players also have a more personal and poignant reason for wanting to win the prestigious trophy following the recent death of Dave Harrison, one of the club’s most loyal supporters.
“I’ve grown up with Dave Harrison watching us and while we will be determined to win the trophy for the club, it will be nice to win it for Dave as well,” said Cole.
Former club president and current cricket chairman Mike Bishop endorses those words and has no doubt about the significance of Northern’s appearance at Beckenham.
“With all due respect to t20 Finals Day, this is without doubt the pinnacle of club cricket in this country and it is, without doubt, the most important match in Northern’s history,” he said.
“I’m quite surprised that no Liverpool Competition side has got there before but we are there and we intend to go and try and win it. Everyone is right behind James and his team and I reckon we’ll have 80-100 supporters down there.
“We felt at the start of the year that this team might be a year young but we always fancy ourselves in knockout competitions and we’ve had home advantage this year, which is worth 20-30 runs.
“We may be outnumbered by Blackheath but we’ll out-sing them, I’m quite sure of that. We’re all really looking forward to it and it’s going to be a great day.”
