T20 Cricket swings back into action in Canterbury as Kent face Somerset

T20 is the shortest format in county cricket, with just 120 balls thrown by each side over twenty overs.

Transcript

00:00Summer evenings, colourful kits and switching out the Red Bull for the White.

00:10The T20 Blast is one of cricket's most popular county formats and in recent years Kent have

00:15had some great success after winning the whole thing in 2021.

00:19Now the competition is due to return to Canterbury as the Kent Spitfires face their first home

00:23match of the season against Somerset this Friday night.

00:27So far it's been a mixed start for Kent, achieving a club record win in the opener

00:31against Middlesex with 98 runs before going on to narrowly lose out to Hampshire by three

00:36wickets with just one ball left to be bowled.

00:40This leaves the club second in the south table and as long as they stay in the top four they'll

00:44then progress to the knockout stage.

00:46It's something head coach Matt Walker is fairly confident about.

00:50We want to obviously get ourselves into a position of strength as quickly as you can

00:53in this comp with points on the board and certainly try and make this as much of a fortress

00:56as possible.

00:57We've got a great squad I think, honestly I think we've got a real chance of having

01:03a lot of success this season and with the players if they stay fit we've got a pretty

01:08nice core of players that can hopefully elevate us towards the top of the table and onwards.

01:13One person who is making the headlines this season is returning T20 captain Sam Billings.

01:18The wicket keeper stepped down from his role as club captain last season before taking

01:22a three month career pause.

01:24I've got a little girl at home now, 13 weeks old so it's been amazing to have a bit of

01:28time at home and family time the last couple of months has been incredible so nice to be

01:34back on the field.

01:36You've got that bug to play cricket again, obviously played probably three or four months

01:40ago in Dubai but like I said raring to go and it's always great to play here at Canterbury

01:47in front of a home crowd.

01:49Over the winter break Kent have had some new recruits too with the likes of Australian

01:52fast bowler Xavier Bartlett and England international Matt Parkinson becoming spitfires.

01:58The latter has already made his mark with a hat trick in the series opener against Middlesex.

02:03We're very careful who we sign, it's not just about the player it's about the character

02:07as well and they all came with great reviews and great people and I think that's the real

02:11secret to success.

02:13Last season Kent missed out on the knockout stages by two points so it's clear fans will

02:18be hoping they can turn it around and maybe even make it to finals day this time round.

02:22But if nothing else for a lot of people the return of T20 cricket in Canterbury is simply

02:27a sign that summer is finally here.

02:30Jack Darkin for KMTV.