Batsman Sam Northeast has heaped praise on Kent’s young stars after their Twenty 20 game against New Zealand on Saturday night.

Northeast was captain for the night as the Spitfires took on the Black Caps at the Spitfire ground, St Lawrence with over 4,000 in attendance.

In the end, it was the Kiwis that came out on top after recording a 42 run win, but there were some real positives to take from the game for Northeast with the likes of Fabian Cowdrey impressing on his Kent debut:

“It was a good experience. A lot of people got a lot out of it and for our youngsters, it’s good preparation.” said Northeast.

“We weren’t expected to win and we didn’t but it was good that guys showed what they can do.”

“We found it tough at times against them, especially the bowling. They have got some really clean hitters, especially the top of the order.”

“We got a few wickets early which slowed them down a little bit. We thought we might be able to chase that down but just didn’t bat well enough in the end.”

“We haven’t played T20 in so long so it was good to get some rustiness out of the way and we’ll look forward to Friday.”

The Spitfires now switch their attention to the start of the T20 campaign beginning with a game against Middlesex at Canterbury on Friday night.

One of the highlights of the game on Saturday night was the form of loan signing Mitchell Claydon who took five wickets and Northeast is hoping this run out for the recalled Matt Coles will give cause for optimism for the upcoming weeks:

“Mitch showed exactly what he can do and it’s great leading forward into the T20s. If he can bowl like that and show that form, it will be great.”

“We are working on our plans for when we go into the T20, guys like Colesey and Mitch are going to be bowling on Friday, we want their plans to be as clear as possible.”

Kent will rest up for the next two days before resuming training on Wednesday ahead of the game on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Kent management will be hoping to tie up their deal for an overseas bowler in the next 48 hours.

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