CHRIS Cooke is relishing the first of a trio of crunch NatWest T20 Blast games when Glamorgan welcome Sussex Sharks to Cardiff this evening (6.30pm start).

Robert Croft's side are hunting a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament and follow tonight's fixture with a trip to Richmond to face Middlesex on Sunday and a home encounter with Gloucestershire on Sunday.

Glamorgan currently sit second with five wins from seven games as they eye only their third appearance in the knockout stages of the popular competition.

"It's exciting," said wicket-keeper Cooke. "As players these are the games you want to play in and we've got three big games coming up.

"We've had a bit of a break from the white ball stuff but the boys will be training hard and having a couple of nets ahead of the first game (against Sussex). All three teams are riding pretty high in the table, so it's a really important period for us."

Glamorgan secured a valuable draw earlier this week with Sussex and beat the Sharks convincingly, by 84 runs, in their Royal London One-Day Cup encounter a month ago – a game in which Cooke top-scored with a blistering 80.

He added: "I think that (the four-day draw) gives us confidence and we had a good win over them in the 50-over stuff, so the boys are in good spirits at the moment."

Australian paceman Shaun Tait will replace Dale Steyn, who was mightily impressive in the first half of the T20 campaign, in the attack.

Cooke said about Tait: "I haven't faced him in the nets yet, only against him last year when he was playing for Essex.

"He was pretty quick, so I'd much rather he was on our side than play against him. But it's great to have him here."