Kent have further strengthened their bowling options ahead of tomorrow’s [Friday] trip to Hove by re-signing South Africa paceman Wayne Parnell.

Parnell, 27, who first joined Kent in 2009 as a relatively unknown rookie during the coaching tenure of fellow South African, Graeme Ford, is named in the squad for Kent’s bank holiday weekend Specsavers County Championship clash against Division 2 neighbours, Sussex.

Having only landed in the UK this week Parnell, who has won five Test caps for the Proteas, could form a new-look new-ball partnership in Hove with James Harris, the on-loan Middlesex firebrand who marked his Kent championship debut by taking six wickets during last week’s three-day rout of Gloucestershire.

In looking forward to his third, short stint with the Canterbury club, Parnell said: “I enjoyed my time at Kent in 2009 when we won Division Two and reached the T20 Finals Day and learned a lot from the experience.

“I hope to help the side continue their strong start in the County Championship and get off to a flyer in the One Day Cup. I’m really looking forward to working with Matt Walker, Jason Gillespie and the boys.”

After marking his impressive Kent bow with runs and wickets, Harris added: “The Gloucestershire game should be our benchmark going forward for how we can perform. We have shown we can do it with bat and ball in both innings, so let’s take that spirit forward to Hove.

“Sussex are a good team and, like Gloucestershire, have a good bowling attack. It’ll be a tough test for sure and it’ll be interesting to see what the wicket looks like down there.

“I’ve played at Hove when it has done a bit and at times when it’s been very flat, so we’ll see that we come up against once we get down there.”

Kent have also added opening batsman Sean Dickson to the selection mix after his recovery from a minor hamstring strain that forced him to miss the opening match. On-loan Joe Weatherley stood in against Gloucestershire, making assured 30-plus scores in both innings.

Kent squad: Northeast (c), DBD, Dickson, Weatherley, Denly, Gidman, Stevens, Rouse, Parnell, Coles, Harris, Tredwell, Claydon.

 

Finally, the county are keen to hear from Kent members and supporters over the England and Wales Cricket Board proposals for a new city-based T20 tournament planned for 2020.

The key elements of the proposed competition include:
• Eight new teams playing 36 games over a 38-day summer window with four home games per team
• All games televised with significant free to air exposure
• No scheduling overlap with the NatWest T20 Blast
• IPL style play-off system to give more incentive for finishing higher up the league table
• A players’ draft to drive excitement and awareness
• Squads of 15, with three overseas players
• Venue selection to be based on potential venues’ ability to best deliver the strategic objectives of the new competition
• Event presentation to be centrally directed and differentiated from other formats of cricket
• Each first-class county to receive a guaranteed minimum of £1.3 million, or 1/19 of net revenues [whichever sum is higher]
• 10% of net revenues to go to a centrally delivered participation programme linked to the new competition.

Supporters can e-mail their views on the proposals to: [email protected]