Bell-Drummond, Cowdrey & Shaw in line up for Hampshire FLt20 match

The Kent Spitfires travel to the South Coast on Sunday afternoon, aiming to upset the Hampshire Royals – the competition holders – who top the group.

The team

After losing all five games in this year’s competition, Kent have made changes to their team and are giving youth a chance. Daniel Bell-Drummond, Fabian Cowdrey and Ashley Shaw are all in contention to make their first Friends Life t20 appearance of the season withMitch Claydon, Matt Coles. Alex Blake and Adam Riley allreturn to theteam. after missing out in the previous two county championship matches.

Kent Spitfires: Tredwell (c), Bell-Drummond, Billings, Stevens, Blake, Cowdrey, Jones (w), Riley, Claydon, Coles, Philander, Shaw

Players to watch:

Skipper James Tredwell continues to be Kent’s star-turn with the ball in t20 cricket. The England off-spinner will hope to add to his tally of six wickets so far in this season’s competition. Against Essex last time out, he returned fine figures of 3-19 and his guile and experience is crucial to the Spitfires side.

Former Kent man Michael Carberry has led the way with the bat for the Royals this season and will hope to add to his tally of 219 runs. The left-hander enjoys batting against his previous employers too, scoring a century and a fifty in the drawn championship match at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence last week.

Pre-match chat:

With youth being given its chance, it allows Jimmy Adams to make changes to his team with the likes of Rob Key, Sam Northeast, Ben Harmisonand Brendan Nash all missing. The Kent Head Coach explains the reason for their absence: "We are resting them. We've had a hectic last few weeks and feel it is in the best interests of both the Club and the players alike. Hopefully this break will will allow them to refresh and then come back strong for the very hectic run-in that we face."

Kent have yet to win a Friends Life t20 match this season but Adams confirms that the team will still be fully fired up for the remainder of the competition: "We will play to win. The new players, coming into the team, now have a good opportunity to hopefully perform. We will see how they handle the t20 questions that will be thrown at them and, who knows, maybe giving youngsters an opportunity is the way forward."

All-rounder Adam Ball impressed for the second-team midweek but Adams knows he cannot afford to rush him back: "Ballyplayed a great batsman’s rolefor the second team midweek but his injury is stopping him from bowling – that's why he isn't involved yet with the first-team. We are still waiting on Ivan Thomas as he isn't bowling as yet."

Recent performance by Bell-Drummond in LV= Chaimpionship matches and noteworthyruns by Cowdrey for the Second XI, including a last start double century, have pressed their cases for inclusion. Shaw continues his progression from injiury spells.

The season so far:

The Spitfires have found things tough in this season’s FL t20 competition, losing all five of their matches. The latest being a 62-run reverse against the Essex Eagles at Chelmsford. With qualification for a quarter-final berth now out of the equation, Tredwell’s men will look to upset a few of the top sides in their remaining five matches.

Hampshire, by comparison, have been rampant – after remaining unbeaten in their first six matches – and top the south division by a point, ahead of Middlesex Panthers, but the Royals have two games in hand on their rivals. Last time out, the side from the South Coast sealed a comprehensive seven-wicket success over Surrey and go into this latest fixture in fine form.

Previous meetings:

When the two sides met in Hampshire last season it was a Sam Northeast inspired Kent who came out on top in a thrilling contest. The visitors batted first and looked to be way under-par before Northeast smashed an unbeaten 46 off 32 balls to lead the Spitfires to a competitive 151 for five. The hosts looked to be cruising in their response, at 110 for three, after all-rounder James Vince made a quick-fire 31. However, wickets for James Tredwell and Adam Ball helped turned the screw before Azhar Mahmood kept his nerve at the end to bowl Kent to a slender three-run victory.