Still so much to play for

Matt Walker has urged Kent’s players to use their T20 disappointment to help fire them towards championship promotion.

The head coach admitted the squad were disappointed by their exit from the competition at the group stage but he wants them to use their hurt as motivation for the rest of the season.

Kent, fifth in Specsavers County Championship Division 2, begin their fivematch run-in at home to Leicestershire on Monday and Walker says he expects a positive reaction.

He said: “We’ve got five pretty important games coming up and look we’ll reflect and we’ll move on pretty quickly from this (their exit from the T20).

“There’s so much to play for and when you have a massive disappointment like this, people will be hurting you can use that to our advantage and make them realise it’s not a great feeling but we can do something about this.

“We can try not to have this feeling again this season and make sure we use it to fuel the enthusiasm, motivation for them to go on and win this championship.

“Five back-to-back games is always going to be a challenge but we’re in the shake up and we’ve got a chance.”

Kent continue to monitor fast bowler Adam Milne’s thigh injury while all-rounder Will Gidman is back in contention having not played at all in the T20 campaign.