Daniel Bell-Drummond’s absence from playing in The Hundred has left Kent Spitfires captain Jack Leaning baffled.

Bell-Drummond has played Kent’s last three One Day Cup matches and could feature in two of their final three group A games, starting against Nottinghamshire at Canterbury on Thursday.

The 30-year-old is part of the London Spirit squad in this year’s tournament but they’ve not selected him so far.

“He’s obviously one of the best white-ball players in the country,” said Leaning.

“How he’s not playing for his franchise side I’m not quite sure to be honest.

“He’s an outstanding player, he gives a lot on and off the field as a senior player. He speaks to the bowlers if I’m at slip, he’s just a massive asset to the club and this team.

“In the best possible sense, I hope that we don’t get him, I hope he gets his way into the Spirit side but if we get him for the rest of the competition then that’s a massive bonus for us.”

After facing Notts, Kent finish off their group matches against Essex at Canterbury on Sunday and then against Hampshire on the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.

Two more wins should be enough to secure a top-three spot and qualification for the knockout stages.

“I think we’ve got some nice momentum building now as a team,” said Leaning.

“We’ve certainly got some confidence in the group and I think we’ve actually won on some more difficult pitches which is quite nice. Sometimes it can be the other way round but when you start winning on spinning pitches it breeds confidence.

“In white-ball cricket, momentum is a big thing. At the moment we’ve found a template that works for us, we’re going back to Canterbury so it will be a slightly different challenge and surface.

“If we carry on with the same positive mindset that we’ve had at the moment I don’t see any team being able to stop us as long as we stick to what we’re good at.”