Kent have captain Sam Billings back for their opening home game of the Bob Willis Trophy.

Billings was part of the England ODI side which suffered a shock defeat to Ireland in the third game of the three-match series.

The Kent man went for just 19 in that match but impressed in the previous two as England could at least claim a 2-1 series victory.

His county side, meanwhile, suffered at the hands of 2019 County Champions Essex, in a match that went into the final session as Ivan Thomas ensured the home side were not going to coast to victory.

Thomas was making his first-class return in Chelmsford after missing the entire 2019 season after needing surgery to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament.

Weekend opponents Sussex head to the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on Saturday buoyed by a 94-run victory over Hampshire in their first match of their Bob Willis Trophy campaign.

The pick of the Sussex bowlers in their opener was former Kent scholar Ollie Robinson, the Margate-born 26-year-old taking eight wickets in the victory.

Kent will be without Heino Kuhn - who started his season so well with an unbeaten 140 against Essex - as his wife is about to give birth to their first child.

Tim Groenewald is part of the 14-man squad and could make his full debut having switched from Somerset. The seamer joined at the end of September on a two-year deal. The right-armer has taken 401 wickets from 138 first-class matches in his career across spells with Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Somerset.

Kent Squad: Sam Billings, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Jordan Cox, Tim Groenewald, Calum Haggett, Fred Klaassen, Jack Leaning, Marcus O’Riordan, Harry Podmore, Hamidullah Qadri, Imran Qayyum, Ollie Robinson, Darren Stevens, Ivan Thomas.

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