ALL-rounder Tim Phillips was a shock inclusion in Essex's line-up as the Eagles went for Twenty20 Cup glory at the Rose Bowl.

The slow left-armer has made just one first team appearance this season after undergoing knee surgery in early May.

The 27-year-old scored an unbeaten 22 and took 1-25 against semi-final opponents Kent in the county's Friends Provident Trophy victory at Canterbury.

Phillips was then injured in a 2nd XI match against Surrey at Garon Park, Southend.

The remaining 10 Essex players all featured in the quarter-final win over Northants.

Ravi Bopara, promoted to open the batting in that game, will again start the innings alongside captain Mark Pettini.

Big-hitting Graham Napier will bat at three, with James Foster, Grant Flower and Ryan ten Doeschate rounding out the top six.

Spinner James Middlebrook, Phillips, David Masters, Danish Kaneria and young seamer Maurice Chambers complete the Eagles line-up.

Kent, the reigning champions, named a strong line-up featuring no fewer than six international players.

Joe Denly, who scored 91 in the pair's South/Division clash at Beckenham, will open with England batsman Rob Key.

South Africans Martin van Jaarsveld and Justin Kemp will anchor a strong middle-order, while former England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones and Pakistan all-rounders Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat are also included.

Essex Eagles: Pettini (capt), Bopara, Napier, Foster (wkt), Flower, ten Doeschate, Middlebrook, Phillips, Masters, Danish Kaneria, Chambers.

Kent Spitfires: Denly, Key (capt), van Jaarsveld, Kemp, Stevens, Azhar Mahmood, Jones (wkt), Yasir Arafat, McLaren, Tredwell, Cook.