INJURY-HIT Kent have added young Kent Academy scholar Alex Blake to their 12-man squad for today's NatWest Pro40 League second division clash with Surrey Brown Caps at St Lawrence.

The former Hayes School pupil and right-arm seamer for Beckenham Cricket Club is on stand-by should Kent all-rounders Darren Stevens (abdominal strain) and Ryan McLaren (fractured thumb) fail late fitness tests.

Successive bank holiday weekend defeats to Middlesex and Somerset saw Spitfires drop in the table from a promotion-chasing second to a non-competitive sixth, ensuring that, with only three games remaining, Rob Key’s side can ill afford another defeat if they are to secure one of the two instant promotion slots.

Key has serious injury worries ahead of the day-night floodlit game. McLaren will hope that the swelling to his right thumb has reduced and is prepared to take pain-killers in order to get through his eight overs.

Stevens, meanwhile, may be forced to play merely as a batsman as he continues to shake off the injury he collected batting against Durham on August 12.

Without both overseas players Lasith Malinga and Yasir Arafat, as well as the long-term injured like Min Patel, Amjad Khan and Robbie Joseph, and having failed to bring in any loan signings, Kent are undoubtedly down to the bare bones of a squad.

Blake and Warren Lee will be considered should either or both Stevens and McLaren fail their fitness tests.

The gates will open at 2.40pm and the game starts at 4.40pm.

Kent from: Key, Denly, van Jaarsveld, Walker, Stevens, Dexter, Jones, Tredwell, McLaren, Saggers, Cook, Lee, Blake.