Hampshire begin their defence of the Royal London One-Day Cup when they travel to Canterbury to face Kent in the first match to be covered by the Sky cameras this season.
The home side will be out for revenge, having lost to their opponents in the 2018 final at Lord’s, while Hampshire will be looking to become the first county since Gloucestershire in 2004 to win back-to-back Lord’s finals.
Both sides have had one win and one defeat in the opening two rounds of the County Championship with attention now turning to the white ball for the next few weeks.
Key Men
With Joe Denly and Sam Billings away on IPL duty, Kent will be looking towards their Australian overseas batsman Matt Renshaw for runs. Renshaw made a quick fire 48* to secure victory in the Championship against Warwickshire and made 180 runs in his five RLODC innings for Somerset last season.
Returning to his former county, Sam Northeast found form in Hampshire’s Championship defeat last week, making 99. He was a key feature of their successful run in this format in 2018, scoring a crucial 75* in the final against Kent. He is sure to get a lively reception from the Canterbury faithful.
Squad News- TBC
Form
Kent- LW
Hampshire- WL
Weather and conditions
This is the first cricket in Canterbury this season, with Kent having started their Championship season with two away games. The weather looks set fair with temperatures reaching a high of 15 degrees and no threat of rain.
Canterbury only hosted two matches in the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2018: Kent chasing 275 to beat Glamorgan and a rain-affected win against Somerset.
It is often a high scoring ground, though, in one-day cricket with three scores of over 200 in last year’s Vitality Blast.
Odds
bet365- Kent- 11/10, Hampshire- 8/11
Would love to see Crane and B Taylor get runs in the side. With Dawson as well though, it’s not easy to accommodate three spinners but Daws and Taylor can bat.