Kent skipper Sam Northeast is relishing the chance to showcase his side’s quality on the biggest stage as they prepare for a potentially season-defining week.

The Spitfires host star-studded Yorkshire Vikings in a televised quarter-final in the Royal London One-Day Cup on Thursday before continuing their quest for promotion in the Specsavers County Championship against Gloucestershire at Bristol on Tuesday.

Northeast admitted: “Games like this at this stage of the season are what we play the game for. They are the sort of games you want to be involved in. There is no pressure for us, only excitement.

“We relish the challenge and as players we want to be trying to get to finals and push for promotion.

“There are a lot of teams who do not have an awful lot left to play for this season – that’s certainly not the case for us.”

Yorkshire welcome back Joe Root, Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow from England duty after ECB dispensation and Northeast claimed: “If I’m completely honest, then you’d prefer not to be playing against players of that calibre but it’s the right thing to do for the competition. You want your star players to be involved in your big domestic competitions.”

Despite that, he said: “I have no doubt that we can beat them. I am confident in the team we have got. We can beat anyone on our day.

“The quality of players we have should be playing Division 1 cricket and competing in the latter stages of competitions. It’s up to us now to go out and show that. I am looking forward to the next few weeks.”

Northeast believes Thursday’s knockout game should be a great day and added: “Our faithful supporters deserve a home quarter-final and we were glad we could give them one.

“We are lucky to have such good support, especially in four-day cricket, that follow us around the country. It should be a great day with a big crowd and hopefully we can rise to the occasion for them.”

In the championship, Kent must close a 24-point gap on leaders Essex in their final four games – the last of which is at home to their rivals over the Dartford Bridge – to secure the lone promotion spot.

Northeast admitted: “The thought has crossed my mind that it might be that we end up second and with nothing to show for a season like this.

“I think, though, that if we can win three or even four of our final games then it would put us right in the hunt.

“We’ve seen that things can change quickly at the top with just a couple of results getting you back in the mix.

“We can’t control what anyone else is doing so we just have to play our own game.”

There will be a strictly limited number of tickets available on the gate for Thursday's Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final, priced at £30 for adults and £10 for under-16s.