Injury-hit Kent have reinforced their depleted batting line-up by signing Feroze Khushi on loan from Essex for four matches.

The club say they have nine first-team players unavailable, with Zak Crawley now linking up with England before their Test series with West Indies.

Khushi, who hit a century against Durham for Essex in April, will face Hampshire in Southampton in Kent’s next game in Division One, starting on Sunday.

The 25-year-old will also be available for three T20 Blast matches but will have to sit out when Kent face his parent club in Chelmsford on Thursday, 11 July.

Kent are bottom of Division One in the County Championship, while Essex sit second behind leaders Surrey.

“With nine of our first-team players unavailable, we’re pleased to have Feroze with us to give us more options with the bat at the top of the order as we wait on the fitness of our established batters,” Kent’s director of cricket, Simon Cook, told the club’s website.

Cook added they expected vice-captain Jack Leaning to be fit in “the very near future”.