Yorkshire need to rediscover some of their early-season form if they are to maintain their status of Championship leaders when they take on Kent at Tunbridge Wells starting on Wednesday.

Batsman Adam Lyth and fast bowler Steve Patterson are included in a party of 13 but Yorkshire are expected to keep faith with the side which lost their last match by six wickets to Durham at Riverside.

Despite that setback, Yorkshire stayed in top place last week when they were without a match, but they are under no illusions that Kent will be a tough nut to crack.

Their opponents are only 20 points behind them after gaining an impressive victory by an innings and 79 runs over Surrey, when Darren Stevens, Martin van Jaarsveld and Geraint Jones all plundered centuries for the victors.

And Kent also went top of the South Conference of the Friends Provident Trophy at the weekend when they gained an easy win over Sussex.

It will be a particularly testing game for Yorkshire's talented young leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who went wicketless against Durham for the first time in his career in a Championship match.

He has been left out of Yorkshire's last two Friends Provident games after being set upon by Brad Hodge in the Roses clash at Old Trafford, when he was thumped for 74 runs in ten overs, but he did well for the Second XI in their Championship fixture against Leicestershire at Todmorden last week when he captured six for 96, including a spell of five wickets for two runs.

"We told Adil not to be down-hearted through not taking any wickets at Durham because this happens to all bowlers and is not at all unusual," said Yorkshire's director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

"It was important that Adil was given a break from one-day cricket and I am very pleased with the way he performed with the Seconds," he added. "Hopefully, he will be successful again at Tunbridge Wells."

Lyth and Patterson make the trip as part of Yorkshire's policy of keeping second-teamers involved with the senior side. "Matthew Wood and Richard Pyrah travelled with us to Durham and Adam and Stephen should both benefit from the experience at Kent," said Moxon.

  • Yorkshire and England fast bowler Matthew Hoggard, who misses the third Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford on Thursday because of his groin injury, had a scan today to monitor his progress and will undergo another one today.

If Hoggard starts to show a significant improvement, England may decide that he should try out his fitness with Yorkshire in their Championship match against Sussex at Headingley which begins on Friday week.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Headingley Carnegie will stage the second npower Test between England and South Africa from July 18 to 22 next summer and that the first of the NatWest Series of one-day internationals between the two countries will be held under floodlights at the venue on August 22.

Yorkshire (v Kent) from: White, Sayers, McGrath, Younus, Rudolph, Rashid, Bresnan, Guy, Gough, Gillespie, Kruis, Patterson, Lyth.