Hampshire v Kent

THE mouth-watering prospect of watching Kent’s overseas all-rounders Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp trying to hit leg-spin legend Shane Warne out of the Rose Bowl awaits those travelling to Hedge End for Sunday’s C&G Trophy tie against Hampshire.

Having suffered defeats in their first two qualifiers against Somerset and Surrey, Kent can ill afford any further set backs in this their third zonal trophy game of nine, which starts at 10.45am.

Though bolstered by the arrival of Hall following the completion of South Africa’s Test series with New Zealand, Kent’s injury list remains extensive with bowlers Martin Saggers, Amjad Khan, Min Patel, James Tredwell and David Stiff all on the treatment table.

With Matt Dennington and Simon Cusden struggling for form, Kent are left with the bare bones of an attack and with left-arm spinner Rob Ferley as their only fit slow bowler.

Kent’s director of coaching Graham Ford said: "The injuries are causing us real headaches and we’ve explored lots of options, including going down the loan route.

"But although we’ve contacted other clubs, it seems they are not inclined to let anyone of real value join another county at this stage of the season."

One bonus for Ford and Kent is that they have no championship fixture next week, but instead travel to Fenner’s to take on Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence in a three-day first-class friendly from Wednesday.

That will at least give the club’s over-worked physiotherapist Nimmo Reid breathing space to work on the walking wounded.