Kent name same squad for Battle of the Bridge Clash in NatWest T20 Blast

Head Coach Jimmy Adams has stuck with the same 13 players he named for the dramatic 21 run victory over the Middlesex Panthers on Friday, for Wednesday night’s Battle of the Bridge clash with Essex. He commented that, ‘the guys earned a good win on Friday night in an all round, tough performance. David Griffiths finished it beautifully for us bowling, after Blakey, Keysy and the two Sams (Northeast and Billings) made great batting contributions.’

The match will double as both the first clash in the 2014 Battle of Bridge series, (T20 Blast fixtures) and the second match in this year’s Mike Denness Challenge Shield competition. Both Counties are on one point after the drawn LV= County Championship fixture. The winner of this match gains an extra point in the quest to be the first to have their name engraved on the Shield, introduced to honour former captain Mike Denness.

The record is evenly split between the Spitfires and Eagles with each having won 10 games, with one no result. In 2013 fortunes favoured the men from Essex, they prevailed in both matches having batted first on both occasions. At the Canterbury match they made 164 and then managed to bowl Kent out for 117 in 17.3 overs, winning by 47 runs. The Spitfires fared slight worse in the return Chelmsford leg, scoring one more run in the same point of the match (17.3 overs), chasing the Eagles 180 – victory by 62 runs.

The squad to face the Essex Eagles in the NatWest T20 Blast fixture, 6.30pm, Wednesday 11 June at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence is:

· Rob Key (c)

· Adam Ball

· Daniel Bell-Drummond

· Sam Billings (w)

· Alex Blake

· Doug Bollinger

· Mitch Claydon

· Fabian Cowdrey

· David Griffiths

· Sam Northeast

· Adam Riley

· Darren Stevens

· James Tredwell

Injury Update:

Mark Davies, Calum Haggett and Ivan Thomas unavailable due to injuries