Kent all-rounder Marcus O’Riordan is relishing the opportunity to impress with both bat and ball for the Spitfires this season.

The 22-year-old, who signed professionally for the club last year, had played just one first-class game before this term. It is possible that, if Kent’s England internationals were available for their county, he would be watching on, but he has played the first two games of this campaign and impressed.

“It has been a very strange summer” he admitted, speaking earlier this week.

“It so happens by chance that I have had a decent bowl and had a chance with the bat as well. I will be looking to put some runs on the board and keep enjoying being out there.

“It was looking touch and go a couple of months ago of whether we would get any cricket at all, so it is all a bit of a bonus and hopefully I can do well.”

O’Riordan scored 42 not out in the first innings against Essex and took three wickets in the game. Against Sussex, he backed up his performance with four more wickets.

The pool of games to judge from are small, but he averages 43 with the bat and 26 with the ball in the Bob Willis Trophy so far.

He has often been the first spinner called in action for Kent, ahead of specialist Hamidullah Qadri, but O’Riordan was humble about his role in Kent’s bowling attack.

“I think we are lucky we have all our bowlers fit and firing ready to go” he said.

“Everyone wants to play, and rotation allows us to keep them fit and fresh for each game. We have a block of Bob Willis Trophy matches with plenty of bowlers so rotating it through is the way we are going.”

O’Riordan and other members of the squad have been working closely with Min Patel, the former Kent and England spinner. Patel took 630 first-class wickets across his career, and O’Riordan is benefiting from the coaching.

“Being inexperienced, working with Min makes things a lot easier” he said.

“Throughout that July period in pre-season, it was two or three times a week. It is invaluable.

“We were not necessarily training for hours, because we couldn’t have loads of people at the ground, but I got a lot out of those sessions and I have found it easy to learn off Min and his experience, so I’m very lucky.”

O’Riordan will be hoping to impress again this weekend, when Kent’s third match of the Bob Willis Trophy, versus Middlesex, begins.

Picture supplied by Kent Cricket.