Kent skipper Sam Northeast admits his side are entering a potentially season-defining phase of the campaign – but he claims it’s what he and his squad play the game for.

The Spitfires have kept their hopes of a NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final alive with consecutive away wins and know victories in their last three games – starting in Friday’s clash with Surrey at Tunbridge Wells – would almost certainly ensure a last-eight berth.

On Sunday, Kent return to red-ball action with the sting of the 10-wicket loss at Specsavers County Championship Division 2 title rivals Essex last week still apparent. Northeast said: “We’ve been playing some good cricket in the Championship, every team loses games and we have to move on. It was a blip.

“We still have six games – four of them at home – and hopefully we can take advantage of that. If we can win three or four and Essex lose one, then who knows?"

In the T20 format, Northeast admitted: “We have not played as well as we expected to this season but we are still alive. Those two wins set us up nicely with everything still to play for and two games against our old foes Surrey."

Kent are likely to have to do it without Matt Coles who Northeast revealed remains under the charge of Kent physio Nimmo Reid after his internal disciplinary issues and will likely be unavailable for selection for at least a couple more weeks.

Northeast admitted: “We are a few bowlers short at the moment. Ivan Thomas and Matt Hunn have had knocks, Calum Haggett (ankle) is still two or three weeks away and we likely won’t see Colesy for a couple of weeks.”

Another missing on Friday is Tom Latham who has joined up with New Zealand’s tour of Africa after learning he would not be in the side on Sunday with Kent opting for Kagiso Rabada as their one overseas player. Callum Jackson will again deputise for Sam Billings who is on England Lions duty with Daniel Bell-Drummond for the next 10 days although both could play against Surrey.