Head coach Adam Hollioake hopes Kent Spitfires’ squad can take advantage of his knowledge of Essex’s ground as he returns to Chelmsford.
Spitfires will conclude their first batch of T20 Blast South Group fixtures this summer against Essex tonight (7pm start).
Hollioake, in his first season at the Kent helm, turned out at Chelmsford in the Blast during the 2007 campaign.
“They’re a decent side,” said Hollioake, talking after his team’s televised seven-wicket loss to Gloucestershire in Canterbury on Wednesday evening. “We will be putting this one behind us.
“Essex have got their own little idiosyncrasies with that ground.
“I played a campaign with Essex as a T20 player – I think my last game as a professional cricketer was there – so I know a little bit about that ground. I will be passing that onto the boys.
“Hopefully, they can take advantage of that.”
While Spitfires find themselves sixth, two points behind fourth-placed Glamorgan in a hotly-contested group, winless Essex are bottom.
But Gloucestershire had made a similarly slow start before they got off the mark against Hollioake’s team, something the coach is eager to avoid a repeat of.
He said: “We don’t like handing out presents to anybody except, maybe, our fans.
“We will be trying to win – as we do every game – and we have just got to get back to how we played two games ago, beating the best side in the competition (Somerset) on their home patch.
“We’ll just have to write Wednesday off as a blip and try to forget about it.”
Kent will return to action for the first time inside just 48 hours and Hollioake is aware of the importance of remaining level-headed amid such a sharp turnaround.
“I think, if you’re being emotional, you want to go in, yelling at them – and telling them that they’re idiots,” he said. “But that’s not reality.
“We have had a tough season, we have a lot of injuries, and some of these guys are quite tired from all the cricket we’ve played recently. They won’t complain about being tired or anything like that but they have had a tough month and, sometimes, these mistakes happen.
“We make mistakes every single day as human beings. As professional athletes, these mistakes just show up on the big stage. It’s hard to know what to say at times like that because your emotions want to yell.
“But sometimes, you just need to put an arm around them and say ‘Come on, let’s keep going.’.
“We beat the best side in our last away game so let’s just try and get back to that.”
Batting all-rounders Joe Denly and Jack Leaning will face late fitness tests ahead of the game.
Kent squad: Billings, Agar, Bell-Drummond, Jaydn Denly, Joe Denly, Evison, Finch, Gilchrist, Klaassen, Leaning, Muyeye, Parkinson, Rogers, Stewart.
