Kent bowler Matt Coles is looking to push for a place in the side after missing the past few weeks due to personal reasons.

The 23 year old was back in the side as the Spitfires lost to New Zealand in the T20 game at Canterbury on Saturday night, having missed the past fortnight.

Now back in contention once again and available for selection, Coles is hoping to put his troubles behind him and look to the future:

“It’s been a tough start to the year and it was good to have those two weeks off and get some technical work done in that time. It’s been a good rest and recovery period that will hopefully keep me going for the rest of the year.”

“It was personal reasons. It’s all sorted out now and I’ve just got to concentrate on the rest of the season now.”

Despite missing some cricket, Coles believes the side are going in the right direction and he was personally happy with his own performance against the Kiwis:

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks, it was good to get back out there. It was a shame about the result. They are a a high class team and they batted really well.”

“They showed us how to do it and we tried to live up to how they did it, but unfortunately we didn’t quite get there.”

“It’s part and parcel of a learning curve and hopefully the boys can get a good bit of practice from it.”

The Spitfires will now switch their attention to the start of theie T20 campaign starting with the game against Middlesex at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on Friday night.

With overseas signing Vernon Philander set to join up with the squad in the next 24 hours, Coles and his fellow seamers face competition for places, but the fast bowler is happy to fight for his place in the side:

“It’s good to have a bit of competition. I struggled last year and there will be a little bit of pressure with results not having been great so far this year, but our One Day cricket has been going pretty well, so we’ve just to take that into this now.”

Philander is expected to be formally announced as a Kent player once he arrives in England.

Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com