Blake, Griffiths and Key in squad to face Surrey at The County Ground, Beckenham
Saturday 23rd May 2015
Rob Key returns to the squad for Kent’s LV= County Championship match against Surrey, starting on Sunday (24 May).
Sam Northeast will skipper the side as Key comes back to his boyhood roots as he grew up a stone’s throw from the recently redeveloped County Ground, Beckenham.
Bromley-born Alex Blake also returns to the four-day squad after his man-of-the-match-winning 71 not out in Friday’s NatWest T20 Blast win at Hampshire.
The fixture is the first of three at the ground this season with NatWest T20 Blast games to follow against Surrey and Gloucestershire on the next two Fridays (May 29 and June 5).
A new 2,000-seater-stand, indoor school and function centre will be unveiled for the fourth first-class match at the ground.
Kent bounced back from a tough start to the season to record three wins in eight days including a first LV=CC win at Bristol sandwiched between wins in the NatWest T20 Blast.
Kent head coach Jimmy Adams said: “It’s good to see the lads get the rewards in the last week for some hard work and more consistent performances.
“We’re looking forward to playing at the new facilities at Beckenham and hope people in metropolitan Kent can come out and support us this Bank Holiday weekend.”
Kent squad to face Surrey:17 Sam Northeast (captain), 23 Daniel Bell-Drummond, 6 Joe Denly, 4 Robert Key, 30 Fabian Cowdrey, 3 Darren Stevens, 10 Alex Blake, 20 Sam Billings (wicketkeeper), 25 Calum Haggett, 26 Matt Coles, 8 Mitchell Claydon, 33 Adam Riley, 18 David Griffiths, 5 Ivan Thomas.
Surrey squad: 13 Gareth Batty (capt), 22 Zafar Ansari, 8 James Burke, 17 Rory Burns, 59 Tom Curran, 9 Steven Davies, 4 Matthew Dunn, Luke Fletcher, 18 Stuart Meaker, 20 Jason Roy, 11 Kumar Sangakkara, 45 Dominic Sibley, 14 Gary Wilson.
Kent v Surrey stats (courtesy of Opta):
· Kent have won their last three against Surrey.
· Kent are attempting to win four in a row against Surrey for the first time in their history.
· Sam Northeast has hit a 50+ score in 10 of his last 12 Championship matches.
· Darren Stevens is one of two players to score at least 1,000 Championship runs and take 50+ wickets since the start of last season – Jim Allenby is the other.
· Jason Roy has hit the most sixes since the start of last season (24).