Kent's coaching co-ordinator Simon Willis has hinted that the Spitfires will use a player rotation policy this summer in the defence of their Twenty20 Cup title.

Kent started their 10-match South Division qualifying campaign against Sussex at St Lawrence on Wednesday, but ahead of the tie Willis hinted that the 11 players on view in Canterbury may not be guaranteed as starting place every game.

He said: “This year we’re going to look at in the manner of ‘horses for courses’, particularly in the bowling department and there may well be opportunities for those who missed out against the Sharks if conditions in future suit.

“For instance, pitches at The Oval are very different to those at Hove, so when there is a quick pitch then the likelihood is we’ll rotate the attack and play someone with out and out pace.

“The thing is we won’t really know what conditions will be like until we get to each ground, so we’ll travel with a 13-man squad and rotate from that.”

It would seem unlikely that beneficiary Matt Walker will feature at all though seam bowler, Martin Saggers, will hope to make the squad after recent nine and five-wicket hauls in the 2nd team. There will certainly be no place for batsman Neil Dexter though, he has joined Essex on loan.

But Amjad Khan and Robbie Joseph, relative new-comers to the short form game, may well feature on the faster pitches.