IT HAS been a rather rocky first few weeks of the season and our injury curse has been both freakish and incredibly frustrating.

At the moment the injury list comprises bowlers Amjad Khan, Min Patel, Martin Saggers, James Tredwell and David Stiff; the first three of which are senior members of the strike force.

Their injuries and Andrew Hall’s absence leaves us low on fire power and results so far, other than the win at Lord’s, have been disappointing.

When we do eventually find ourselves at full strength we really will have to put in some super performances as we will have some catching up to do in both C&G Trophy and championship.

Hopefully Andrew Hall’s arrival will provide the required boost.

There has been plenty of talk about young Sam Northeast and his impressive 62 not out against the Sri Lankans whilst playing for the Sir Paul Getty XI.

I was fortunate to witness this fine performance and was impressed by the 16-year-old’s sound technique, delightfully quick feet and what appears to be a very tough, mature mind. He is definitely someone the Kent faithful will enjoy watching in the future.

At the moment Sam is the one receiving much well-earned publicity, however, there are other Kent Academy youngsters showing talent.

On Sunday coach Paul Farbrace was extremely proud of his young Academy players after they completed a nine-wicket win over Bickley Park.

Northeast was again one of the stars scoring 52 not out, while 15-year-old Dan Stickels really impressed with 104 not out. A powerful left-hander, I really found his knock entertaining.

There were some pleasing bowling performances too with Charley Hemphrey’s conceding only 15 runs from his eight over, but perhaps the most pleasing part of the day was to see the commitment and passion shown by the side in the field as they limited the opposition to 205 from 40 overs.

The Kent Academy is a fairly new operation, but is already proving to be a huge success.