London, Apr 15 (IANS): New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry will no longer be joining the Kent cricket club for the first seven County Championship matches of 2020.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and disruption to the official start of the 2020 county cricket season, both the club and Henry have decided to cancel plans which would have seen him return to Kent for a second time.

The New Zealand pacer had a highly productive stint with the club in 2018, clinching 75 wickets from 11 matches to help the side win promotion to the first division of the Championship.

Kent's Director of Cricket, Paul Downton, said: "Once the decision was announced by the ECB that there would be no cricket until at least the end of May it became inevitable the Matt would not be returning to Kent this season.

"We'd like to thank Matt for his understanding in difficult circumstances. Hopefully another opportunity will arise in the near future which will allow him to join us once again," he added.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has already announced that no professional cricket would take place in the country until May 28 due to ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The club has already furloughed most of their players and majority of their non-playing staff.

Nathon Lyon (Hampshire), Cheteshwar Pujara (Gloucestershire) and Michael Neser (Surrey) have already had their contracts cancelled for the upcoming season in the wake of coronavirus pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the world so far.