Sussex hit by more Covid chaos - but this time it's not in their camp

Ollie Robinson was leading a young Sussex side against a much-changed Kent team / Picture: GettyOllie Robinson was leading a young Sussex side against a much-changed Kent team / Picture: Getty
Ollie Robinson was leading a young Sussex side against a much-changed Kent team / Picture: Getty
Preparations for Kent’s final LV= County Championship Group C game with Sussex were thrown into chaos on Sunday morning, after a positive COVID-19 PCR test forced 14 members of the hosts’ first-team squad into isolation.

An unidentified member of the Kent Spitfires Vitality Blast side that beat Surrey on Friday night tested positive on Saturday and as his team mates were all identified as close contacts, club officials were left scrambling to assemble a scratch squad in time for Sunday’s game.

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Director of Cricket Paul Downton and Head Coach Matt Walker worked through the night to assemble a mixture of red-ball specialists and second-teamers and the start was delayed until 12 noon to allow multiple players to be registered in time.

Heino Kuhn was named captain of an XI that included first-teamers Harry Podmore, Matt Quinn, Nathan Gilchrist and Marcus O’Riordan.

Kent CEO, Simon Storey, said: “With the emergence of the Delta variant and recent release in lock down restrictions, the Club has been conscious of the increased possibility of an outbreak.”

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“Overnight, the Club has worked swiftly to identify a replacement squad that will be ready to take on Sussex in the much-anticipated Canterbury Cricket Week, and will also be preparing for the final two matches of the group stages of the Vitality Blast, with a quarter-final berth already secured.”

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