KENT will travel to Derby for Tuesday’s Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy second round in fighting mood according to the county’s director of cricket Graham Ford.

The former South African Test coach believes a workmanlike win over the Scottish Saltires, a brave championship draw with Hampshire, and Rob Key’s axing from the England squad, will all act as motivating factors come Tuesday morning’s scheduled first ball at 10.45am.

Ford said: "We’ll be naming the same 12 that were on duty in Edinburgh, so this will be Geraint Jones’s last game for us before he starts his England duty.

"The lads were utterly professional in putting away Scotland and then showed great pride and character to battle out the draw over the final two days with Hampshire.

"Cricket matches don’t always go to plan but the boys gave their all and showed a lot of fight. Our supporters should be very proud of them, because I know I was."

Looking ahead to taking on Derbyshire for the third time in six weeks, Ford added: "Derbyshire have a couple of good cricketers that they rely on heavily.

"Chris Bassano scored a century against us in a pre-season friendly in Canterbury and Michael Di Venuto is also a classy player.

"We will have to play good cricket to put them away, but it’s really all about maintaining our standards high, and if we do that they we shouldn’t have to worry about Derbyshire’s strengths and weaknesses."

Due to a change in playing regulations Tuesday’s clash will be played in coloured kits and with white balls.

Kent from: Jones, Key, van Jaarsveld, Walker, Fulton, Stevens, Carberry, Ferley, Dennington, Cook, Khan, Saggers.