Haggett: Practice priceless for preparation
All-rounder Calum Haggett says the Spitfires squad will use this week to make minor adjustments to their game to register an opening Royal London One-Day Cup win against Glamorgan on Friday, writes Mark Pennell.
After a strong start to the Specsavers County Championship, Kent opened the 50-over competition with defeat to Sussex in Hove and a 70-run reverse against Middlesex at Radlett on Sunday.
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Kent have four precious practice days this week to brush up on their white-ball skills before aiming to kick-start their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign for 2018 at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on Friday.
Winless Glamorgan are the visitors for the first home one-day match on Friday (11am start) with both sides keen to move up the table and finish in the top three to qualify for the play-offs.
“Thankfully, we have a bit of free time this week to go back and train quite hard and put a few things right,” added Haggett. “I don’t think there’s that much wrong, it’s just about being more clinical in our training and all that we do in practice.
“Hopefully, that work can put us in a position to get some much-needed victories. We can compete with the side that we’ve got, we just need to look at ourselves and tweak a few things. I know I’ll be trying to do that and I know the other lads will too.
“The next game is so, so important for us because we just need to get a win. Through hard practice and doing the right things, I’m sure we can manage it.”
Daniel Bell-Drummond and Heino Kuhn hit fluent half-centuries in the opening matches but Haggett believes more batsmen need to chip in to give the Spitfires attack more runs to defend.
“On the batting front, we needed a few more guys to hang around and support Deebs and Heino, then we’d have been in with a better shout.
“When I was out there with Heino we were looking to get to 220 after 40 overs. We managed that target and were looking to go from there but unfortunately, I got run out. It was always going to be tough for someone new coming in at that point.”
Calum Haggett impressed with bat and ball in the second XI and took 3/32 in his opening first XI Championship match before claiming another three wickets at Radlett and feels comfortable with the ball.
The 27-year-old said: “Last year I felt I went fairly well in the T20s bowling at the death and got a bit of confidence from that. We’ve also got Mitch [Claydon] and Matt [Henry], who are great at the death, but we’ve got to go better at the start of games and put some real pressure on teams at the stage of the match.”
Kiwi paceman Matt Henry – who tops the national first-class bowling averages with 37 wickets – is still leading the Spitfires’ attack with aplomb, but injury has affected the supporting cast.
Mitch Claydon (hand), Darren Stevens (groin) and James Tredwell (shoulder) have missed matches through injury with Grant Stewart’s promising start to the season blighted by a hamstring strain.
The opening home One-Day match is against Glamorgan next Friday (25 May) at The Spitfire Ground before Somerset come to Canterbury on Tuesday 29 May (2pm).
There’s also a double-header at The County Ground, Beckenham against Surrey (Friday 1 June) and Gloucestershire (Sunday 3 June). Both matches start at 11am unless stated with gates opening an hour before.
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