Kent will not push overseas paceman Doug Bollinger to return from a shoulder injury, partly because they do not want to hurt his chances of playing international cricket this winter.

The Australian has been plagued by a sore shoulder in recent weeks, missing the Championship draw against Worcestershire at the end of May and the T20s against Surrey at the Oval and at home to Hampshire last week.

Assistant coach Matt Walker revealed Bollinger will miss Friday’s visit to Sussex and the trip to face Essex in Colchester the following day as they seek to give the left-armer a complete three-week break ahead of the T20 game at home to Somerset on Friday, July 18.

Walker said: “It’s a real shame because he’s been excellent for us. We’re playing it by ear at this stage but we’ll not be seeing him back this week.

“It’s more than just a niggle but we’ll continue to monitor it and hopefully the rest will lead to an improvement. It’s his bowling shoulder, so we don’t want to take any risks.”

He added: “Doug’s frustrated. He wants to be playing for Kent and we want him back taking wickets, but we have to be fair to him, too.

“He’s been in great form and he’s not going to be far off the Test and one-day side, plus he’s got First Class commitments in Australia this winter.

“We’re not going to just play him and push him and put the problem under more pressure.”

Walker backed Mitch Claydon to fill the void left by his fellow Sydneysider, a former youth cricket team-mate of Bollinger, after his match-changing efforts with bat and ball in the Championship game at Leicester this week.

Claydon will be relied upon again in the two T20s, with Kent realistically needing to win all four remaining South Group games to have any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Walker said: “Realistically we might have blown our chances a little bit and it might be a bridge too far for us now but we want to get back on track.”