T20 is the shortest format in county cricket, with just 120 balls thrown by each side over twenty overs.
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00:00Summer evenings, colourful kits and switching out the Red Bull for the White.
00:10The T20 Blast is one of cricket's most popular county formats and in recent years Kent have
00:15had some great success after winning the whole thing in 2021.
00:19Now the competition is due to return to Canterbury as the Kent Spitfires face their first home
00:23match of the season against Somerset this Friday night.
00:27So far it's been a mixed start for Kent, achieving a club record win in the opener
00:31against Middlesex with 98 runs before going on to narrowly lose out to Hampshire by three
00:36wickets with just one ball left to be bowled.
00:40This leaves the club second in the south table and as long as they stay in the top four they'll
00:44then progress to the knockout stage.
00:46It's something head coach Matt Walker is fairly confident about.
00:50We want to obviously get ourselves into a position of strength as quickly as you can
00:53in this comp with points on the board and certainly try and make this as much of a fortress
00:56as possible.
00:57We've got a great squad I think, honestly I think we've got a real chance of having
01:03a lot of success this season and with the players if they stay fit we've got a pretty
01:08nice core of players that can hopefully elevate us towards the top of the table and onwards.
01:13One person who is making the headlines this season is returning T20 captain Sam Billings.
01:18The wicket keeper stepped down from his role as club captain last season before taking
01:22a three month career pause.
01:24I've got a little girl at home now, 13 weeks old so it's been amazing to have a bit of
01:28time at home and family time the last couple of months has been incredible so nice to be
01:34back on the field.
01:36You've got that bug to play cricket again, obviously played probably three or four months
01:40ago in Dubai but like I said raring to go and it's always great to play here at Canterbury
01:47in front of a home crowd.
01:49Over the winter break Kent have had some new recruits too with the likes of Australian
01:52fast bowler Xavier Bartlett and England international Matt Parkinson becoming spitfires.
01:58The latter has already made his mark with a hat trick in the series opener against Middlesex.
02:03We're very careful who we sign, it's not just about the player it's about the character
02:07as well and they all came with great reviews and great people and I think that's the real
02:11secret to success.
02:13Last season Kent missed out on the knockout stages by two points so it's clear fans will
02:18be hoping they can turn it around and maybe even make it to finals day this time round.
02:22But if nothing else for a lot of people the return of T20 cricket in Canterbury is simply
02:27a sign that summer is finally here.
02:30Jack Darkin for KMTV.