James Tredwell and Fabian Cowdrey have been added to the Kent Spitfires squad for their NatWest T20 Blast game against Hampshire tomorrow night.

32-year-old Tredwell – Kent skipper last season – returns to the squad having been away on international duty with England, where he impressed in their Royal London ODI series with Sri Lanka, playing all five games and taking nine wickets in the process as England lost the series 3-2.

Cowdrey, 21, comes into the squad on the back of scoring 54 in a Second XI Trophy match against The Unicorns yesterday, and has impressed for the seconds on a number of occasions already this season.

Brendan Nash, a non-playing squad member in both of Kent’s NatWest T20 Blast games so far this season, is rested, with the rest of the names selected staying the same.

The game at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton, which starts at 6.30pm, will be televised live on Sky Sports 2, and sees Kent take on a Hampshire side who are currently top of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group, having won three of their four games in the competition so far.

The Spitfires also enter the game with an impressive record, however – having won both of their games in the shortest format so far this year; a 42-run win at Somerset followed by a 21-run win at home to Gloucestershire last Friday night.

Alex Blake and Adam Riley were two of the names to impress in the win over Gloucestershire – Blake top-scoring with his highest T20 score of 41, and Riley taking career-best figures of 4-22.

Speaking about the squad he had selected for the game, Kent Head Coach Jimmy Adams said: “We have a very hectic time in  front of us with three T20 Blast fixtures in seven days and a four-day Championship fixture in the midst of this.

“We wanted to strengthen the squad and give ourselves more options. Tredders [James Tredwell] is clearly one of the leading limited-overs bowlers in the country, and Fabian has been getting in some good knocks for the seconds.”

The hosts squad is one full of recognisable faces and features a number of former Kent players and international stars. Former Spitfire seamer Matt Coles is set to line up against his former team for the first time, while opening batsman Michael Carberry, now also a regular international, also used to play at Canterbury.

Hampshire also welcome Glenn Maxwell – one of the most revered T20 batsmen around the world – into their squad, fresh from taking this year’s IPL by storm, and are captained by the in-form James Vince – the leading run-scorer so far in this year’s T20 Blast, with 215 runs in four innings at an average of 71.66 so far.

In the last eight T20 matches played between the sides, Hampshire have won six of them, although both of Kent’s wins in this period have come at the hosts’ home ground of the Ageas Bowl.

Kent Spitfires follow the game against Hampshire by welcoming Middlesex to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on Friday night. They then face Essex in a four-day County Championship game, starting on Sunday, before reverting back to T20 and facing the same opponents on Wednesday, all of which will take place at Canterbury.

 

Hampshire vs. Kent Spitfires starts at 6.30pm at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday 5 June 2014, and is to be shown live on Sky Sports 2.

 

Hampshire squad to face Kent: W Smith, O Shah, J Adams, J Gatting, S Ervine, J Vince*, M Carberry, M Bates†, D Briggs, C Wood, M Coles, A Wheater, G Maxwell, K Abbott 

Kent squad to face Hampshire: Bell Drummond, Key*, Northeast, Stevens, Billings†, Blake, Cowdrey, Ball, Tredwell, Claydon, Riley, Bollinger, Griffiths