Kent Spitfires will be looking to end their T20 campaign on a high when they take on Sussex Sharks at Hove this evening.
The side will once again be led by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones with skipper James Tredwell to sit out the game as he nurses his ankle injury ahead of Friday’s County Championship game away to Worcestershire.
Kent have named a twelve man squad for the game with Calum Haggett named alongside the eleven that took to the field on Monday night as the Spitfires were comprehensively beaten by Hampshire Royals at Canterbury.
Despite that loss, Jones believes the side are heading in the right direction in the long term and the more games some of the club’s promising youngsters play, the better they will become:
“I won’t be around forever, and these guys coming through, you have to nurture them and help them out as much as you can.”
“What has really impressed me is the way they’ve approached it. They have watched a lot of T20 cricket and now use things like the ramp shot.”
“Fabian (Cowdrey) plays things well down to third man and has a power game too. Sam Billings and Daniel Bell-Drummond have played well and now it’s a case of turning those twenties and thirties into seventies and eighties, a bit like Michael Carberry did for Hampshire against us.”
Going into the Sussex game, Jones wants the side to come away with a morale boosting win to give them a springboard ahead of the County Championship game starting on Friday:
“I’ve told the guys that I want to come away with a win. Let’s go out and enjoy it, but make sure we cover ourselves in glory.”
“There is a bit of rivalry with Sussex and the crowd make something of it. That’ll be a great experience for some of the younger guys and going to grounds like that the guys come away having learnt something.”
Play starts at 7:10pm and you can follow all the action on Twitter via @ksncricket
Kent squad: Geraint Jones (c/wk), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Billings, Darren Stevens, Alex Blake, Ben Harmison, Fabian Cowdrey, Adam Riley, Mitchell Claydon, Matt Coles, Mark Davies, Calum Haggett.
Main picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com