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Injury-hit Kent head to Chester-le-Street

Amjad Khan hopes for a return to action at The Riverside
Amjad Khan hopes for a return to action at The Riverside

Durham v Kent

Kent's injury ravaged squad head north to Chester-le-Street on Tuesday to take on Durham in their ninth LV Championship clash of the summer from Wednesday.

Though Kent will go to the North East in buoyant mood having won last month's Friends Provident Trophy semi-final at the Riverside, the squad is almost down to the bare bones with four players struggling for full fitness.

Darren Stevens (groin), Azhar Mahmood (knee), Justin Kemp (back spasms) and Yasir Arafat (side strain) are all major doubts leaving Rob Key to bring in Neil Dexter, Matt Walker, Martin Saggers and potentially Amjad Khan, who appears to have recovered from the hamstring strain that has kept him sidelined for six weeks.

Khan got through 29 overs in the drawn 2nd XI Championship match between Kent and Sussex at Beckenham last week and could form a new-look new ball pairing with Robbie Joseph.

Kent's director of cricket Graham Ford said: "We've some very important cricket coming our way and this is the time when the depth of our squad will be tested.

"It's not ideal, but to go right through the summer with your best 11 out there, is never likely to happen.

"It's a nice opportunity for the guys who have been waiting in the wings and hopefully they will step up to the plate and show us that we have the strength in depth we believe we have.

"It will be a tough comeback for Amjad because he has been out of the high-pressure match situations for quite a while now, but his skill levels are high and his action is pretty pure, so hopefully there's not too much that can go wrong with that.

"He will have to feel his way into things because he's missing that match tightness but I know he's looking forward to the opportunity."

Kent from: Key, Denly, Dexter, van Jaarsveld, Walker, Jones, McLaren, Tredwell, Khan, Joseph, Saggers, Cook.

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