# Kent County Cricket Club in 2020

In 2020 Kent County Cricket Club were scheduled to compete in Division One of the County Championship, the Royal London One-Day Cup and the 2020 t20 Blast. However, the season was heavily disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, with no county cricket fixtures played until August. For the shortened season, the majority of counties voted on 7 July to play first-class and Twenty20 cricket, with the Royal London One-Day Cup being cancelled. Instead of the County Championship this year, the 18 first-class counties competed for the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy, which consisted of three regional groups of six teams and a final at Lord's.
The season was the fourth in charge for head coach, and former player, Matthew Walker. Former Kent bowler Simon Cook became the new bowling coach after a spell as head coach of the Hong Kong national team, replacing South African Allan Donald who left the county at the end of the previous season. Former England all-rounder Michael Yardy joined Kent as the new batting coach in February 2020. Sam Billings retained the club captaincy that he was first awarded in 2018. Billings and vice-captain Joe Denly both spent time away with England squads throughout the season, and so Daniel Bell-Drummond captained the side on several occasions.
The delayed start of the season and the resulting loss of income meant that, like many other counties, Kent decided to cancel contracts for their overseas signings. New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry had been due to return for the first part of the season after a highly successful spell with the county in 2018. Meanwhile, Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi had signed to play for the county in the t20 Blast for a second successive year.

## Squad

Batsman Alex Blake signed a new white-ball (limited overs) contract with the county in January 2020, becoming the first homegrown player to sign such a deal with Kent.

### Departures

Mitchell Claydon left Kent after seven years with the team, to join Sussex at the end of the 2019 season. In July 2020, batsman Sean Dickson departed the club to join Durham, initially on loan for the 2020 season. On 30 July, wicket-keeper Adam Rouse announced his retirement from cricket at the age of 28, after having played four seasons with Kent.
All-rounder Calum Haggett and bowler Ivan Thomas were both released by the club after their contracts expired in October.

### Arrivals

In August 2019, Kent announced that they had signed Yorkshire all-rounder Jack Leaning on a three-year contract from October 2019. In September 2019, Kent announced the signings of teenage Afghan-born England Under-19 off-spinner Hamidullah Qadri from Derbyshire on a three-year deal. A few days later, the county also announced the signing of 35 year-old seamer Tim Groenewald from Somerset on a two-year deal from 2020.
Zimbabwean-born 20-year old fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist, who had yet to play a senior match, joined Kent in August, initially on loan from Somerset ahead of signing a three-year contract.

### Squad list

* Ages given as of the first day of the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy, 1 August 2020.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||
| 4 | Heino Kuhn | South Africa | (1984-04-01)1 April 1984 (aged 36) | Right-handed | — | Kolpak signing |
| 6 | Joe Denly | England | (1986-03-16)16 March 1986 (aged 34) | Right-handed | Right arm leg break | Vice-captain |
| 10 | Alex Blake | England | (1989-01-25)25 January 1989 (aged 31) | Left-handed | Right arm off break | White-ball contract only |
| 16 | Zak Crawley | England | (1998-02-03)3 February 1998 (aged 22) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | |
| 23 | Daniel Bell-Drummond | England | (1993-08-03)3 August 1993 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | |
| 34 | Jack Leaning | England | (1993-10-18)18 October 1993 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right arm medium/off break | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| 3 | Darren Stevens | England | (1976-04-30)30 April 1976 (aged 44) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | |
| 9 | Grant Stewart | Australia | (1994-02-19)19 February 1994 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | EU passport holder |
| 25 | Calum Haggett | England | (1990-10-30)30 October 1990 (aged 29) | Left-handed | Right arm medium-fast | |
| 55 | Marcus O'Riordan | England | (1998-01-25)25 January 1998 (aged 22) | Right-handed | Right arm off break | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| 7 | Sam Billings | England | (1991-06-15)15 June 1991 (aged 29) | Right-handed | — | Club captain |
| 21 | Ollie Robinson | England | (1998-12-01)1 December 1998 (aged 21) | Right-handed | — | |
| 22 | Jordan Cox | England | (2000-10-21)21 October 2000 (aged 19) | Right-handed | — | |
| Bowlers |||||||
| 1 | Harry Podmore | England | (1994-07-23)23 July 1994 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | |
| 5 | Ivan Thomas | England | (1991-09-25)25 September 1991 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | |
| 11 | Imran Qayyum | England | (1993-05-23)23 May 1993 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| 17 | Nathan Gilchrist | South Africa | (2000-06-11)11 June 2000 (aged 20) | Left-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | On loan from Somerset for 2020; UK passport |
| 18 | Fred Klaassen | Netherlands | (1992-11-13)13 November 1992 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Left arm medium-fast | |
| 29 | Matt Milnes | England | (1994-07-29)29 July 1994 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | |
| 34 | Tim Groenewald | England | (1984-01-10)10 January 1984 (aged 36) | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | |
| 75 | Hamidullah Qadri | England | (2000-01-05)5 January 2000 (aged 20) | Right-handed | Right arm off break | |

## Bob Willis Trophy

Matches played in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy had first-class status, but there were some differences to the playing conditions compared to the County Championship. The minimum number of overs in a day was reduced to 90, the follow-on increased from 150 runs to 200, the new ball was to be available after 90 overs instead of 80, and each team's first innings was restricted to a maximum of 120 overs. Kent's first match of the delayed season began on 1 August against Essex at Chelmsford.

### South Group

| Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | D | A | Bat | Bowl | Ded | PCF | Pts |
| Essex (Q) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Kent | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 82 |
| Middlesex | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 62 |
| Hampshire | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 57 |
| Surrey | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Sussex | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 24 | 0 | 12 |
* ↑ Kent were deducted 1 point for a slow over rate against Surrey.
* ↑ Sussex were deducted 24 points for ball tampering against Middlesex.

### Matches
## t20 Blast
### South group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR |
| 1 | Surrey | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 0.651 |
| 2 | Sussex Sharks | 10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0.377 |
| 3 | Kent Spitfires | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0.108 |
| 4 | Middlesex | 10 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | −0.296 |
| 5 | Essex Eagles | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 6 | −0.003 |
| 6 | Hampshire | 10 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 5 | −0.803 |

### Matches
#### Quarter-final
## Statistics
### Batting

First-class (Bob Willis Trophy) :
| Player | Matches | Innings | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 | 4s | 6s |
| Jordan Cox | 4 | 6 | 1 | 324 | 238* | 64.80 | 53.02 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 4 |
| Jack Leaning | 5 | 8 | 1 | 279 | 220* | 39.85 | 52.14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 0 |
| Marcus O'Riordan | 5 | 8 | 3 | 216 | 52* | 43.20 | 45.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| Heino Kuhn | 2 | 4 | 1 | 202 | 140 | 67.33 | 57.71 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 2 |
| Daniel Bell-Drummond | 5 | 9 | 1 | 185 | 45 | 23.12 | 54.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Ollie Robinson | 5 | 6 | 0 | 138 | 78 | 23.00 | 57.02 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 1 |
| Grant Stewart | 4 | 6 | 0 | 129 | 58 | 21.50 | 61.72 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 |
| Zak Crawley | 1 | 2 | 0 | 105 | 105 | 52.50 | 97.22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| Matt Milnes | 4 | 6 | 0 | 96 | 43 | 16.00 | 43.83 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Joe Denly | 1 | 1 | 0 | 89 | 89 | 89.00 | 57.79 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Harry Podmore | 3 | 3 | 1 | 79 | 47 | 39.50 | 91.86 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| Darren Stevens | 5 | 6 | 0 | 77 | 36 | 12.83 | 56.20 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| Nathan Gilchrist | 1 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 25 | 19.00 | 48.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Sam Billings | 2 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 20.00 | 50.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Hamidullah Qadri | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 3.66 | 26.19 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ivan Thomas | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3* | 3.00 | 20.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Fred Klaassen | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0* | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Groenewald | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Source: Cricinfo
Twenty20 (t20 Blast) :
| Player | Matches | Innings | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 | 4s | 6s |
| Daniel Bell-Drummond | 11 | 11 | 1 | 423 | 89 | 42.30 | 154.94 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 53 | 12 |
| Zak Crawley | 11 | 11 | 2 | 342 | 108* | 38.00 | 156.88 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 7 |
| Jack Leaning | 11 | 9 | 3 | 201 | 55* | 33.50 | 138.62 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| Alex Blake | 11 | 9 | 1 | 171 | 52* | 21.37 | 134.64 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 8 |
| Joe Denly | 6 | 6 | 0 | 152 | 38 | 25.33 | 142.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 |
| Heino Kuhn | 8 | 8 | 2 | 104 | 42* | 17.33 | 118.18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| Sam Billings | 3 | 3 | 0 | 86 | 50 | 28.66 | 132.30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| Grant Stewart | 11 | 9 | 3 | 79 | 21* | 13.16 | 98.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Jordan Cox | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75 | 39* | 18.75 | 122.95 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Calum Haggett | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 15* | – | 107.14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Imran Qayyum | 11 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8* | – | 88.88 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Groenewald | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6* | – | 87.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Milnes | 10 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6.00 | 85.71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ollie Robinson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | – | 33.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fred Klaassen | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Source: CricInfo

### Bowling

First-class (Bob Willis Trophy) :
| Player | Matches | Innings | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 5w | 10w |
| Darren Stevens | 5 | 10 | 209.0 | 64 | 452 | 29 | 5/37 | 9/72 | 15.58 | 2.16 | 43.2 | 3 | 0 |
| Harry Podmore | 3 | 6 | 117.3 | 30 | 307 | 19 | 5/43 | 7/92 | 16.15 | 2.61 | 37.1 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Milnes | 4 | 8 | 119.3 | 29 | 355 | 15 | 4/46 | 7/112 | 23.66 | 2.97 | 47.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus O'Riordan | 5 | 7 | 62.1 | 5 | 255 | 8 | 3/50 | 4/72 | 31.87 | 4.10 | 46.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Grant Stewart | 4 | 8 | 95.5 | 19 | 299 | 5 | 3/48 | 3/87 | 59.80 | 3.12 | 115.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fred Klaassen | 1 | 2 | 27.0 | 6 | 80 | 4 | 4/44 | 4/80 | 20.00 | 2.96 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Ivan Thomas | 2 | 4 | 30.0 | 3 | 136 | 4 | 4/32 | 4/74 | 34.00 | 4.53 | 45.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Groenewald | 1 | 2 | 28.0 | 5 | 119 | 2 | 1/53 | 2/119 | 59.50 | 4.25 | 84.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamidullah Qadri | 4 | 5 | 38.4 | 7 | 104 | 1 | 1/24 | 1/58 | 104.00 | 2.68 | 232.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Leaning | 5 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 1.00 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Denly | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | – | – | – | 6.00 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Bell-Drummond | 5 | 2 | 5.0 | 0 | 22 | 0 | – | – | – | 4.40 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Nathan Gilchrist | 1 | 2 | 9.0 | 1 | 52 | 0 | – | – | – | 5.77 | – | 0 | 0 |
Source: CricInfo
Twenty20 (t20 Blast) :
| Player | Matches | Innings | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w |
| Fred Klaassen | 11 | 11 | 40.4 | 0 | 374 | 13 | 3/36 | 28.76 | 9.19 | 18.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Imran Qayyum | 11 | 11 | 41.0 | 0 | 329 | 11 | 3/25 | 29.90 | 8.02 | 22.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Milnes | 10 | 10 | 37.0 | 0 | 338 | 7 | 3/19 | 48.28 | 9.13 | 31.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Grant Stewart | 11 | 11 | 37.4 | 0 | 329 | 6 | 2/28 | 54.83 | 8.73 | 37.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Groenewald | 4 | 4 | 15.0 | 0 | 119 | 4 | 2/31 | 29.75 | 7.93 | 22.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Denly | 6 | 6 | 21.0 | 0 | 166 | 3 | 1/19 | 55.33 | 7.90 | 42.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Calum Haggett | 3 | 3 | 9.0 | 0 | 93 | 2 | 1/28 | 46.50 | 10.33 | 27.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Leaning | 11 | 5 | 6.0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | – | – | 7.16 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Blake | 11 | 5 | 7.0 | 0 | 60 | 0 | – | – | 8.57 | – | 0 | 0 |
Source: CricInfo