Kent captain James Tredwell believes keeping faith with the youngsters in the side will bear fruit in the long term.After two defeats in their opening two T20 games of the new campaign, the Spitfires are already finding out the South group will be no easier this year, but there have been signs of encouragement for the Kent skipper.

Sunday’s 31 run loss to the Surrey Lions at Canterbury looked worse on paper with the game still pretty even at the three quarter stage, but Tredwell believes with a little tinkering, the side will come good soon:

“I think we came off at halfway reasonably happy. I would have rather they’d have had 130, but on that wicket with the short boundary on one side, 170 we’d have taken certainl after their start.”

“We were disappointed we lost a cluster of wickets in the middle which cost us quite dear really.”

“It’s difficult for batter to come to the crease when you need eight or ten an over. It’s not easy to clear the ropes for two or three balls in an over.”

“Maybe we need to get someone in a bit earlier and save Stevo for the hitting at the end, so we will have a look at it. We’ll talk about that over the next few days.”

With Brendan Nash still currently injured, Kent have fewer options available in which to choose from, but Tredwell remains optimistic the side can string together some results with the squad at his disposal:

“We’ve shown things in both games areas that we’ve done pretty well. On Friday to post that score was good and we got ourselves in a position to win that game.”

“Equally, in this last game we bowled and fielded pretty well. Again we had a decent start when we were batting. Twenty 20 is a game of very small margins and if you don’t get it right, you come off on the wrong side.”

“We’ll go into the next few days, practice hard, talk about it, come out on Friday and hopefully turn it around.”

One of the real highlights of the game for Tredwell was the return to form of bowler Matt Coles who picked up two wickets:

“We tried him in a different role in this game and it’s easy to say that it looked like it clicked. Again that is Twenty 20 for you as one day you can get smacked around the park and then the next day you can go for twenty.”

“You’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt when you take a bit of tap. If a bloke is in and gets hold of you, it can look terrible, but the next day you can bowl pretty well and all looks rosy.”

“If he bowls like that more often that not, he will have success most of the time.”

It’s been a real baptism of fire for Tredwell taking on the England captaincy, having been away with England for large parts of this season and the side struggling in the County Championship, but the 31 year old believes it is just a matter of time before Kent turn a corner:

“There’s a bit of pressure, but I always knew that was going to be the case. We are a club in a bit of transition. We’ve got some decent young cricketers and we are trying to progress them as best we can.”

“With the decision you have seen over the last few weeks, that’s starting to be made known.”

“People like Adam Riley, Matt Coles and Sam Billings have shown they are progressing. It may mean we don’t win as many games as we like, but they will get their chances and we will put in performances.”

“We are trying to build something here and to get into the positions we have is credit in itself. There is a bit of inexperience and there are still guys learning their games and hopefully over the course of this competition we see some improvement.”

“You go into every game trying to win it, but equally as a management group we have an eye on what’s going on in the greater scheme of things.”

Still learning his new role and having skippered the England side just last week, Tredwell admitted he had been supported well by former Kent skipper Rob Key to adjust to his new position at the club:

“He’s helped with bits and bobs. He’s also helped with talking to individuals as well. He is vastly experienced, not only on the field, but also with his captaincy and managing people.”

“He has been very good in that regard, talking to certain individuals. It’s something I am still learning. To have someone in the dressing room with me doing similar things is only going to help us in the long term”

Tredwell went on to explain how bringing in Vernon Philander will help his squad progress too:

“He’s been brilliant since he’s been here and he was very vocal after the game on Friday. He had some good point to put across in the dressing room and on the field speaks for itself.”

“When you bring in someone like that, you want a bit more than just cricket.”

“You’ve seen that with Ricky Ponting as was the stand out of the day. His attitude and the extras they get from him on and off the field is massive.”

“If we bring someone in as an overseas, that’s what you look for really.”

The Spitfires will now turn their attention to Friday’s game against Essex at Canterbury and Tredwell believes a win will prove to be a huge boost to the side, although admitted it might not be easy:

“It’s not great for the confidence levels in the dressing room if you keep losing, there’s no doubt about that.”

“We want to lift the dressing room and if we get a good win on Friday, that’ll certainly do that.”

“We’ve got some talent in our room and they’re in the side because we believe they can win us games. Shaun Tait rocking in at 95mph won’t be too pleasant, but if we play to our best we can win it.”

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Geraint Jones remains part of Tredwell’s plans in T20 this season and wouldn’t rule out the Ashes winner coming back into the side as batsman.

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