Kent spinner Hamid Qadri says side have nothing to lose in bid to reach Royal London One-Day Cup knock-out stages

Spinner Hamid Qadri admits Kent have nothing to lose in their bid to reach the knock-out stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

The Spitfires beat Northamptonshire by four wickets on Sunday in Canterbury after three successive defeats.

They are due to visit Derbyshire today - with Tawanda Muyeye ruled out with toothache - before finishing with back-to-back home fixtures at The Spitfire Ground - against Yorkshire on Friday and Lancashire next Tuesday.

“Now there’s nothing to lose,” said the 21-year-old. “We are just playing ruthless cricket and enjoying it, just playing positive cricket.

“The boys are just happy to play and play positively - that’s the way forward.

“If we do get a win playing positively, so be it. If not, obviously, we learn from the loss.”

But as Kent aim to make their way into the semi-final stages, Qadri thinks it’s vital the Spitfires stick to the right processes during their remaining matches.

He said: “You can’t really focus on the end result too much, just focus on the process of playing good cricket for long periods of time. Then you get your rewards.”

Qadri joined Kent on a three-year deal ahead of the 2020 season having made his first-class debut for Derbyshire against Glamorgan in 2017, aged 16. When doing so, he produced figures of 5-60 in his second innings.

But this year, he seems to be finding slightly more consistency to his game.

He took a career-best in the Royal London One-Day Cup of 4-35 against Northants and also claimed 6-129 in County Championship Division 1 against Lancashire earlier this season.

Qadri thinks the wickets he has played on in 2022 have helped to get the best out of him.

“We have had wickets [where] I’m required to bowl for long periods of time,” he explained.

“I’m