PROSPECTS for play in the opening day of Kent’s Frizzell Championship match with Gloucestershire in Bristol looked bleak today.

Heavy overnight rain left the Nevil Road ground sodden when the players arrived just after 9am and although there was no further rain the umpires inspected at 10am and declared they would inspect again at noon.

Umpires John Holder and David Constant had a cursory look at mid-day and asked the players to take lunch at the ususal time of 1.15pm - a sure sign of little or no imprvement.

With sodden run-ups at the Jessop Tavern End, identical to the corresponding match here last year, chances of any play on Wednesday remain unlikely.

Kent look set to make one change to the side that drew with champions Warwickshire, drafting in England paceman Martin Saggers at the expense of Simon Cusden.

Saggers, who spent the winter having treatment for patella tendonitis in his right knee, missed the Frizzell Championship opener with back spasms but is likely to feature in this latest match.

His last four-day appearance came last July, but Saggers proved his fitness with figures of three for 46 in Sunday’s totesport League win over Leicestershire in Canterbury.

Kent’s second year academy scholar Johan Malcolm, a right-handed batsman and off-spinner for Kent League outfit Beckenham, is also named in the party.

Malcolm is taking a year out before going to Loughborough University having completed his A-levels at Eltham College and he will gain useful experience by training with the first team squad this week.

Hosts Gloucestershire will be looking to bounce back from their opening round defeat to Hampshire and hope to give a debut to Sri Lankan Upul Chandana and bring in former Surrey seamer Carl Greenidge to strengthen their squad.

Kent from: Fulton, Key, van Jaarsveld, Walker, Stevens, Jones, Dennington, Patel, Khan, Saggers, Cusden, Malcolm.