Skipper Rob Key has praised wicketkeeper Sam Billings and his Kent side ahead of their Royal London Cup semi-final with Warwickshire on Thursday.

The Spitfires head to Edgbaston with the knowledge that one more win would secure them a place in the prestigious final at Lord’s on Saturday 20th September.

With a convincing win against Gloucestershire under their belts and having played some sublime cricket at times in the 50 over tournament, the Spitfires go into the game against their hosts full of confidence and Key has praised his young squad ahead of their biggest game in years:

“To be in the semi-finals is really pleasing. Edgbaston is a great ground and we saw that in the Twenty 20 Finals Day. Hopefully we can get on a good pitch and show what we can do.”

“As I have said all along, the only way Kent is going to have a period of success that’s going to last is by taking the young players into the next era.”

“Maybe we didn’t expect them to be doing it as much as they have.”

“When my day is done it will be nice to think I am leaving Kent in a good place and with these youngsters coming through, that certainly seems to be the case.”

“These guys have really stood up for us in this competition this year and if we play to our potential, we will give Warwickshire a run for their money.”

One player that has caught the eye in this year’s Royal London Cup has been wicketkeeper batsman Sam Billings, coming in at vital times and winning games for the Spitfires.

With former England captains suggesting the Kent gloveman is pushing for call up to the national side, skipper Key has backed his man and can’t believe how well Billings has played for the side this season:

“He has got an awful lot of runs in this competition already and I don’t think he has even batted for anything more than about fourteen or fifteen overs.”

“The way he has been playing is phenomenal and he seems to have that bit of an X Factor that will take him a long, long way in the game.”

“Some of the shots he is playing are incredible and half the time he is batting left handed.”

“Sam has worked really hard and was struggling in all forms of cricket and for a lot of young players they don’t come back from that, but he has worked even harder on his game and it’s paying off.”

Another player to catch the eye in recent weeks is Fabian Cowdrey and with both bat and ball in his hand, has contributed for Kent in the Royal London Cup and Key feels he is another player starting to live up to his potential:

“Fabian, for a young lad, has got a lot of confidence and his bowling has really come on, but he has also matured as a batsman.”

“I now know as a captain that I can throw the ball his way and he will do a job for us, but also he is coming in at difficult times and showing real maturity.”

“The good news is we’re not relying on Stevo (Darren Stevens) so much this season, so if he comes off at Edgbaston with all the young guys, we will be really giving it a go.”

Kent will go into the game with a 14 man squad that will be missing both James Tredwell (international duty) and Doug Bollinger, whose time with the club came to an end a few weeks ago.

Both will be a big miss for a Kent side that has been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks, but Key believes others will stand up to be counted in their absence:

“Treddy playing for England, as great as it has been for him, we have missed him as he has been outstanding for us.”

“That’s also the case with Doug Bollinger and we went into the Quarter Final without those guys and asked others to do jobs that they weren’t used to doing, but did really well.”

“Every county seems to be struggling with the schedule this year.”

“This is when we will see who wants to put their hands up and be a match winner. On our day, we have a team full of them so we will go there and do our best for Kent.”

The game starts at 2pm on Thursday and you can get live updates via our Twitter feed – @ksncricket