Assistant coach Matt Walker says Kent Spitfires need to get back to winning ways to keep their hopes of a return to the knockout stages of the NatWest T20 Blast alive.

Kent are seventh of nine in the tough South Group, with four defeats from six games, and sixth-placed Middlesex and big-hitting Brendan McCullum set to visit the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, on Friday 7pm.

Walker admitted: “It’s certainly going to be a challenge. The South Group is tough, it always is, there is not a single easy game. Teams have some very dangerous players - as we can see on Friday.”

There are just six games to come after the Middlesex game, starting with the visit of Sussex on Thursday (6.30pm) and with only the top four going through to the quarter-finals, Walker admitted: “We can’t afford to lose many more games if we’re going to qualify.

“We’ve lost four already and we only lost four in total last year when we finished top of the group.

“We’ve played well in some games and been in with a chance in some of the games we’ve lost, though our last game (at Glamorgan on Friday night) we got exactly what we deserved.

“We showed our T20 quality last year and surprised a few people and turned over a few teams and I think they are keen to put one over on us last year.”

He added: “We play better at Canterbury and though we are in a bit of a rut at the moment the good thing about this competition is that one performance and result can get you back on a roll.”