Grayson's side face Hampshire in Division One on Friday

Essex coach Paul Grayson says his side are fully prepared for their opening match in the Twenty20 Cup, despite a punishing schedule.

Grayson's side have had a match on 41 of the last 55 days and host Kent under the lights at Chelmsford on Wednesday.

He told BBC Essex: "We've probably played the most cricket at this stage out of any other side in the country."

"Luckily at the moment everyone is fit. There's no excuses we know its a tough schedule, we've got to get on with it."

Essex drew their County Championship match at Nottinghamshire on Tuesday, and take on Hampshire in another four-day game on Friday.

Grayson added: "We're looking forward to it, we've got 16 matches this year but the real key is to get a good start in the competition so you can have a little bit of blip along the way, teams will do that."

BBC Essex will have full commentary of the Twenty20 Cup match between Essex and Kent from 1900 BST on 729, 765 and 1530MW and on the BBC Sport website.

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