Alex Blake insists there is enough depth in Kent’s squad to go all the way in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Kent have lost head coach Matt Walker, captain Sam Billings, Jordan Cox, Matt Milnes, Jack Leaning and Daniel Bell-Drummond to The Hundred while Zak Crawley is still in England's side, but their squad - captained by Joe Denly - does still appear to be a strong one.
They will aim to progress to the semi-final stages of the competition today when they visit Leicestershire, coached by former Kent wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, as departing Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens goes back to his old stomping ground. “If you look at our line-up from one to 11, we have used different players throughout,” said Blake. “We haven’t got Navdeep Saini [their Indian overseas] now but Harry Podmore has come in for the last two games and bowled fantastically well - the way we know he can bowl - and he’s got runs there as well. “So we have good depth, not huge depths with the lack of The Hundred players, but with the squad we have got, we are very confident.” Kent's quarter-final comes after wins in back-to-back encounters at The Spitfire Ground in Canterbury against Yorkshire and Lancashire edged them into the knock-out stages as they came third in their group.
All-rounder Grant Stewart hit a last-ball six to give the Spitfires a three-wicket win over Yorkshire Vikings last Friday before they won in the last over again against Lancashire on Tuesday at the same venue, Harry Podmore crashing the penultimate ball to the ropes.
After a poor start against Lancashire, Blake (81) top-scored amid a 105-run stand with Stevens to help them get to their target of 296.