Kent captain James Tredwell has highlighted the significance of "getting off to a flier" when the Spitfires begin their Yorkshire Bank40 campaign next week.

Kent are currently in action at the St Lawrence Ground against early LV= County Championship Division 2 leaders Northamptonshire but will swap the red ball game for white for three games in five days next week.

They visit Warwickshire Bears on Monday afternoon before a televised floodlit game at Nottinghamshire Outlaws on Wednesday evening and a trip to face the Netherlands on Friday afternoon.

New skipper Tredwell (pictured) says the three-game away spell could prove pivotal to their chances of improving on their third-place group finish in the 40-over competition last summer.

Kent were left to rue a shock defeat against Unicorns in their second game of the campaign last season, a result which, coupled with frustrating weather, ultimately cost them their place in the knockout stages.

Tredwell said: "It’s a different competition and a different set of skills. We were not far away last year but need to come back with more energy and dynamism to help keep us going forward.

"You want to get off to a flier in this competition. With only one going through from each group and one second-placed team, you can’t afford to get off to a slow start.

"We have to be up for every challenge we face on every day.

"With Unicorns last year, if we’d won that we’d have gone through to the quarter-finals but we didn’t turn up that day and it cost us.

"We can’t afford that this year against any team because all the teams we are playing have high-quality players and teams like Holland had some great results last year."

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