Club captain Rob Key expects Kent to emulate last season’s 50-over success and continue their emergence in white ball cricket when the Royal London One-Day Cup gets underway this weekend.

The Spitfires host Essex Eagles at Tunbridge Wells on Sunday (10.30am) having enjoyed a run to the semi-finals of last year’s inaugural competition and topped the South Group in this year’s NatWest T20 Blast, securing a home quarter-final next month.

Key - who returned to the Championship with a half-century in this week’s big LV= County Championship win against Essex at The Nevill - said: “We had a young side last year and it was great to get that far.

“Now we have taken that into this year and we have a lot of confidence with the white ball. We have a young bunch, who are fairly confident in how they go about it, and a few more experienced heads.”

He added: “With the ball we have guys like Mitchell Claydon and Matt Coles, while James Tredwell is an absolute banker in one-day cricket – to have someone like that in the middle is invaluable.

“Then with the bat Sam Northeast is really clicking and has showed his class, along with Sam Billings and Alex Blake, who has had some of the most extraordinary innings. His hitting has been as good as anyone’s and it will be fascinating to see how he goes.

“He has just got confidence, really. We have almost been 100-1 shots in some games where he has got us over the line.”

Key and on-field skipper Sam Northeast believe the 50-over game has become more explosive, with Northeast adding: “The recent England v New Zealand Royal London ODI series showed how limited overs cricket has changed. The batters were positive and put the pressure back on the bowlers by taking the attack to them.”

He added: “We were happy with our 50-over cricket last year and hopefully our T20 form will stand us in good stead in this year’s One-Day Cup.”

Key added: “There is no point in trying to play an old-fashioned form of 50-over cricket on a good pitch. A lot of one-day cricket is about finding out what a decent score is – these days that can be as many as 400.”

Key also claimed positive play in this competition could boost the international prospects of Kent’s young stars.

He said: “It’s also a big opportunity for players - last season Sam Billings went from being not on the radar at all to playing for England a year later.

“It is really important to be a one-day cricketer as far as England are concerned because there is a bit more focus on it.

“The World Cup was a bit of a watershed for how they view one-day cricket. They will be looking just a little bit harder at how people go in this competition.”

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