Kent have included Amjad Khan (pictured) and Azhar Mahmood in their 12-man squad for Thursday's LV County Championship Division 1 opener against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

The duo both sat out the low-key draw in the first-class friendly against Loughborough MCCU at Canterbury earlier this week.

But new signing Dewald Nel has been ruled out with the South African-born Scottish international suffering a sore back.

Team director Paul Farbace said: "He had a scan, but there is not a great deal to worry about.

"He drove down from Edinburgh to Canterbury last week and felt it stiffen up, so we wanted to be careful and didn’t risk him in extremely cold conditions.

"It wasn’t ideal and he won’t be involved against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge because the other guys bowled well and deserve their chance."

Matt Coles and Phil Edwards have both been named in the squad against Nottinghamshire, who will field overseas signing Hashim Amla
in their line-up.

James Tredwell will play for Kent, before joining up with the England squad next week, ahead of the the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies at the end of the month.

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