Kent head coach Jimmy Adams is bullish ahead of Saturday’s NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final, claiming the players have been presented with a golden opportunity to grab some glory.

The Spitfires will host last year’s beaten finalists Lancashire Lightning in front of a packed house at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence and the Sky Sports cameras at 2.30pm, seeking a place at Finals Day in Birmingham on August 29.

Edgbaston was the scene of one of Kent’s finest hours in 2007, when they beat Gloucestershire to win the title, while they returned to the last four a year later at Southampton only to lose in the final to Middlesex.

The club’s last Finals Day appearance was six years ago and this will be Kent’s first quarter-final in the competition since the loss at Leicester in 2011 and their first at home since facing Durham in July 2009.

Adams said: “This is a huge opportunity for the whole squad and they do not come around often. To make Finals Day would be a massive thing for the club.

“It would be a huge day, not just the players who have got us to this point but for everybody at the club who has worked hard in their own role to get things right and to help make it happen.”

With good weather forecast, Kent are expecting a 7,000 sell-out crowd and Adams said: “Home advantage is important – we are fortunate to enjoy good home support here and it can be valuable for us.”

Kent are likely to keep faith with the squad that topped South Group, although Lancs have drafted in Ashes winner Jos Buttler but Jimmy Anderson is ruled out with a side
strain.

Adams said: “We have a small core group on which we have relied throughout the season.
“Those players who have got us here have earned the right to continue.

“We have to make it count and try to take advantage of having played them last weekend (a 51-run defeat to Lancashire in the Royal London One-Day Cup). It’s a new day but the guys are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, as they are of ours. We go in with a huge amount of confidence.”