CAMERON Delport is confident that Essex Eagles’ luck will change as the Vitality Blast gets underway today.

Delport will feature for the Eagles in the short-form of the game for the next two summers and is set to open the batting against Middlesex at Lord’s tonight.

Ryan ten Doeschate described last season’s T20 campaign as ‘disastrous’, with Essex winning just two of their 14 scheduled encounters but Delport is keen to turn the Eagles’ fortunes.

The hard-hitting South African said: “I know the boys are excited about it.

“Things haven’t gone well for the last couple of years, so that’s got to change.

“Our luck has got to change in the Vitality Blast.”

Since leaving Leicestershire last August, Delport has turned out in the Caribbean Premier League, Afghanistan Premier League, the inaugural Mzansi Super League in South Africa, the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League.

Delport amassed 1,003 runs between September and March.

The 30-year-old thumped the Lahore Qalanders attack all around Karachi in compiling an unbeaten 117 in March.

Delport’s century for Islamabad United took just 49 balls and remains the fastest recorded in Pakistan Super League history.

And the Durban-born all-rounder will be eager to enjoy similar success at the crease with the Eagles.

Delport added: “It was pretty magical.

“It was the first time competitive cricket had come back to Pakistan. We’d been playing our previous games in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

“We needed to win but I just went with the flow, that’s how I like to play. I didn’t really think about it too much, I just went for it. There were a few balls there to be whacked.”