Walker: Our focus is on Championship now
Head coach Matt Walker said Kent’s focus must be 100 per cent on the red ball with leaders Warwickshire the visitors in the sixth round of the Specsavers County Championship at Tunbridge Wells this week.
The Royal Spa town’s leafy Nevill Ground will, however, feel like a world away from the celebrations that followed Kent’s tense win over Worcestershire on Sunday to reach a first Lord’s final in a decade.
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Kent must negotiate back-to-back Championship matches against promotion favourites Warwickshire on Wednesday before a pink-ball fixture versus Middlesex under the floodlights of The Spitfire Ground on Monday.
“It’s a brutal schedule but you don’t mind that too much when you’re winning games,” said Walker. “The Lord’s final is almost a fortnight away, we need to put that to the back of our minds for now and focus on two crucial, back-to-back championship matches.
“We need to think hard about what side we need to play, but the good teams, the successful sides, play a lot of cricket and don’t get too much rest. We have a few little niggles, but we must get our heads right quickly, that’s essential because we’re in the hunt to win the championship too.”
Mitch Claydon (groin), Grant Stewart (hamstring) and James Tredwell (shoulder) have all been on the treatment table of late, while Imran Qayyum could push Adam Riley for a place in the Championship XI.