Fabian Cowdrey is set to make his maiden First Class appearance for Kent after replacing Sam Northeast in their squad to face Glamorgan.

21-year-old Cowdrey has been pushing for a starting place in the first team in all formats for a number of weeks, having produced some impressive performances in the Second XI. He gets his call-up now for the County Championship Division Two game, starting tomorrow (Sunday 15 June 2014).

Kent’s vice-captain Northeast, 24, has struggled with the bat in four-day cricket so far this season, averaging just 14.83 from his 12 innings, with two fifties.

Cowdrey has played two First Class matches in his career so far, both for Cardiff MCCU, where he has a top score of 62. He has also played five one-day games and six T20s for Kent, notching up one half-century in each format.

The only other change to the squad sees Calum Haggett brought in as twelfth man in place of David Griffiths, although all-rounder Haggett is still unavailable to bowl as he returns from a side injury suffered in pre-season.

Speaking about the squad he had selected for the game, Kent’s Head Coach Jimmy Adams said: “We are looking to give Sam some time to work on his batting for red ball cricket so are giving him a bit of a break.  Fabian has been performing for the seconds so he has chance to play.”

Glamorgan and Kent come together again at the SWALEC Stadium less than 48 hours after meeting in a pulsating NatWest T20 Blast encounter which saw the game tied, with Doug Bollinger run out attempting a single to win the match off the final ball.

Notable performances for the home side in that game included Jim Allenby, who hit 54 from 37 balls, and Michael Hogan, whose final over saw him take two wickets and concede just two runs with Kent needing only three to win.

Darren Stevens was the undoubted star for Kent with both bat and ball, first taking 3-22 from his four overs, before smashing a stunning 39-ball 71, which featured six sixes, as he almost-singlehandedly pulled his side back into the game in their chase of 178.

In terms of four-day cricket, both sides are in relatively similar positions having each played seven games so far this year, and find themselves in sixth (Glamorgan) and seventh (Kent) positions respectively. Both sides have won just the one game each – each of them, in fact, against Surrey.

Kent’s last Championship game last week saw them play out a draw with Essex at Canterbury.

38-year-old Stevens was again the man to impress on that occasion as he made 105 in Kent’s first innings, while Daniel Bell-Drummond made his highest County Championship score of 92 to help his side secure the draw in their second knock.

Mitch Claydon took the third five-wicket haul of his First Class career as he picked up figures of 5-82 in Essex’s only innings.

The Welshmen did not have a four-day game last week, but also played out a draw with Essex in their most recent Championship encounter at the start of June.

All-rounder Graham Wagg has been in excellent form with the ball for Glamorgan so far this season, and is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in Division Two so far in 2014, with 28 victims at an average of 22.46.

Will Bragg has been in decent form with the bat for his side, scoring 589 runs in the seven matches he has played so far at an average of 53.54, scoring four half-centuries in the process.

When the sides met in Cardiff last year, Kent headed back to the south-east with the victory, having beaten Glamorgan by seven wickets.

 

Glamorgan squad to face Kent: Lancefield, Rudolph, Bragg, Wright, Cooke, Allenby, Wallace, Wagg, Salter,Smith, Cosker, Hogan. 

Kent squad to face Glamorgan: Bell-Drummond, Key*, Cowdrey, Nash, Harmison, Stevens, Billings†, Ball, Claydon, Riley, Bollinger (12th man – Haggett)

 

Top picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com