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Kent County Cricket Club batsman Sam Northeast writes exclusively for the KM Group

Sam Northeast and Geraint Jones came together at 85-5 but steered Kent to 142-5 with four balls to spare.
Sam Northeast and Geraint Jones came together at 85-5 but steered Kent to 142-5 with four balls to spare.

Saturday’s Friends Life t20 quarter-final against Leicestershire at Grace Road is my biggest game for Kent and an exciting prospect.

Everyone knows it’s a massive match but we are not phased by the challenge – I think we have got the team to win it.

Both teams are having similar seasons – struggling in the Championship and the one-dayers – but have found a formula in t20 that works.

We might be favourites going into the game but you never know what might happen on the day and I gather there might be a bit of rain about as well which could throw a real curve ball into proceedings.

We haven’t spoken in great detail about the game yet. We travelled over from Worcester and practised in Leicester on Monday knowing we still had a job to do in the championship before the weekend.

At least the quarter-final has fallen nicely for us in terms of travelling.

The nets at Leicester are nice and pacy, quick and true and it will be good for us to get in some practice on the t20 skills as the week goes on.

Looking at the Leicestershire side, they are a pretty strong outfit. They’ve got Andrew McDonald and Josh Cobb at the top of the order followed by the highly-rated James Taylor and experienced Pakistan international Abdul Razzaq.

Making early inroads into them will be a big thing for us.

Claude Henderson and Jigar Naik are their two main spinners and I am sure Leicester will be aiming to produce a pitch that helps them.

I can’t see it being a pacy deck to favour us. We have a good bowling unit as well with Treddy, Bally and Stevo all looking to do a job in the middle of the innings.

With the game not starting until 5pm, it means a fairly relaxed build-up. Happily it will allow me to have a lay-in at the hotel on Saturday, then having breakfast before relaxing with a bit of shopping and then getting to the ground a couple of hours before the start.

Some players like to get there earlier to have a hit but we are all different in our approach. Then we will all be out practising with Keysey getting us together for a chat.

It’s my first quarter-final. I have been in the dressing room on big t20 days before, but never involved in the side. Finals day at Edgbaston is still a long way off – we just want to make sure we get there.

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