Frank Woolley's Ghost

Rob Key to stay at Kent

2009-09-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

Rob Key will reject Surrey's offer of a bumper pay rise and the captaincy to stay with Kent, FWG understands.

The Kent captain is expected to turn down a £170,000-a-year deal, instead choosing to remain at the helm of the Canterbury club. Key is also thought to have been offered an immediate benefit at The Oval - to make up for the one he would have been foregoing with Kent - but it has not been enough to convince the 30-year-old opening batsman to switch clubs.

Key, who has become one of the most respected captains on the county circuit in recent seasons, has led Kent to the brink of a return to the First Division. In contrast, Surrey are unlikely to be promoted after the latest in a series of mediocre seasons.

The news is sure to please Kent fans, who feared Surrey's financial might would be enough to sway the Beckenham-raised cricketer. Surrey have signed two Worcestershire players - Steven Davies and Gareth Batty - in recent weeks, and more additions are anticipated.

Key may have felt that a move to Surrey would harm his England chances, given their likely Second Division status. That appears to have outweighed the pull of the the greater profile he could have enjoyed leading the self-styled 'Manchester United of cricket'.

Farbrace to take over

2009-07-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

Paul Farbrace has announced that he will be quitting his post as Sri Lanka's assistant coach when his contract ends on August 20 to take up the position of head coach of Kent, reports Cricinfo.

Farbrace explained that he was leaving because he got a better offer from Kent. "I was head of the academy and assistant coach of Kent when I joined the Sri Lanka team two years ago," Farbrace told Cricinfo. "But this offer from Kent to become their head coach is too good to miss."

This is potentially excellent new for Kent. Farbrace has a good reputation as a coach and the fact that he's a local boy and a former head of the academy bodes well for the club's homegrown youngsters.

Kent's national service

2009-07-31T02:02:00.000-07:00

Ian Bell is a talented batsman but he has rarely been comfortable at Test level. A decent average of just above 40 masks the fact that he has performed so moderately against the Australians (10 Tests, average 25) and that he rarely scores important centuries - except when the opposition is Pakistan, against whom he has four tons. There will have been plenty of England supporters, therefore, who were less than joyous when the decision to recall him for the third Ashes Test match at Edgbaston was made.

How much greater would have been their chagrin if only they had known what Frank Woolley's Ghost can now reveal - that England have not won a home Ashes series without a Kent player since at least the start of the 20th century? In 2005, there was Geraint Jones - you have to then go back to 1985 for the last home England win, which was inspired by 'Lion of Ashford' Richard Ellison. In '81 Graham Dilley played a key role having seen his Kent colleagues Bob Woolmer, Alan Knott and Derek Underwood shine in 1977. Eearlier that decade England had retained the Ashes in 1972 with Knott, Underwood and Brian Luckhurst playing their part.

It was 16 years before that that England had last won the Ashes at home, with Colin Cowdrey and Godfrey Evans in the side. That pair also featured in 1953, while before the war the great man himself - Frank Woolley - and Percy Chapman (pictured above) were in the '26 team. Woolley had also played in 1912 while the 1905 series win saw a solitary performance from Cockney spinning genius Charlie Bylthe.

It is just about conceivable that I've missed an Ashes home victory out that didn't include any Kent players, but let's discount that possibility. It is absolutely essential that the England selectors convene at the earliest possible opportunity and find a way to squeeze Robert Key into the team for Headingley, perhaps after Ravi Bopara fails in Brum. If not Key, then Joe Denly. He might be a wee bit easier to fit in.

Northeast corner

2009-07-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

An ability to thrive under pressure is what separates good cricketers from the mediocre. It's what made Michael Vaughan such a fine Test player while Mark Ramprakash - apparently a more gifted batsman - never made a consistent case for himself at the highest level. If you cannot withstand a bit of heat, you will never prosper in cricket, where the mind is as important as the body.

In that respect, Sam Northeast is getting a bit of a headstart on his contemporaries. I cannot recall a Kent youngster ever having had such expectation heaped on his shoulders: perhaps its the current paucity of other homegrown talent or the fact that the club has not produced a truly great cricketer since the 1970s, but the Ashford-born 19-year-old is carrying a county-sized load of hope.

Northeast did not excell against Gloucestershire at Beckenham last week but neither did he disappoint. After a poor first innings, a score of 30 in his second knock was a decent return in a low-scoring match on what appeared to be an unrealiable wicket. Northeast's defence looked solid - attacking shots were few and far between - and the only criticism can be that he maybe allowed his attention to wander after tea. That said, there was no shame to be out LBW to Steve Kirby, Gloucester's transplanted Yorkshireman, who bowled superbly.

Not shameful, but certainly embarassing, was the turn-out at the county championship match (empty ground - see picture above). On Wednesday afternoon there were perhaps 600 in the crowd, a terrible attendance given the size of the local population. Perhaps the game had been badly promoted, but 6000 found their way to Worsley Bridge Road for the preceding Twenty20 game with Surrey. Strange and disappointing, especially as Beckenham is unlikely now to get a Championship match next season.

I was just wondering this morning...

2009-06-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

...who's the best at darts out of Joe Denly, Sam Northeast and Warren Lee?

Thankfully, there's an easy way to find out:

Cricket AM 'Ultimate Sportsman'

Revealed: what Denly and Stevens were thinking

2009-06-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

It had all looked so easy. With the floodlights having failed, all Kent needed to do was make sure they stayed ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis score to ensure they secured a vital Twenty20 Cup win and dealt a serious blow to a major rival's hopes at the same time. Sussex had not scored very many, hence Kent did not need very many and for much of the innings last night they kept their noses in front whilst losing no wickets. Until the 11th over, when they allowed the scoring rate to drop below what was needed. The Sussex skipper brought on a medium-fast bowler, and the umpires took them off for bad light. Kent lose by two runs.

Many Kent supporter must have wondered at that moment (perhaps aloud, perhaps in stronger terms than might be normal in polite society - you might even have tugged at your hair like the wacky fellow in the picture) what exactly was going on in the minds of Joe Denly and Darren Stevens. Well, wonder no more: I can exclusively reveal* the five reasons for Kent's incredibly blunder.

1). Denly's brain was temporarily borrowed by a passing alien craft, leaving an empty shell of a body to carry Kent to victory. 'I remember going out to bat,' he said, ' but that's all. The next thing I know I'm in a spaceship, there are green beings and nasty looking probes. Then, suddenly, I'm back in the dressing room and Tredders is refusing to speak to me.'

2). Stevens was put off by the smell of frying onions from a nearby hotdog vendor. 'I've smelt some pretty foul food in my time on the county circuit - who can forget the burgers at Derby? - but nothing quite that egregious,' he said. 'It was like silage if it smelt even worse than it actually does, which is quite bad anyway.'

3). Denly missed the reassuring presence of Rob Key at the other end. 'I've got used to him being there for at least the first three or four balls this season,' said the distressed Whitstable native. 'Without Keysy, I'm nothing.'

4). Both Denly and Stevens are incredibly short-sighted and, unable to see the scoreboard, were relying on score updates from the Sussex fielders. 'We're sneaky, don't you worry about that,' cackled Michael Yardy. 'I told them they were ahead of the rate before my last ball. I never believed it would work!' he added, hysterically.

5). The pair wanted to make Kent's progress to a glorious second Twenty20 title in three years even more exciting. 'It looked like we might be basically through if we won this one,' sniffed Stevens. 'That's dull. It would be whack, as we hip-hoppers say. So we decided to lose. Get used to it.'

*not really; incredible as it seems, all these quotes are invented.

Bat Stevens

2009-05-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

Kent's victory at Lord's yesterday - by a thumping 62 runs - was largely down to one man: Darren Stevens. His 59 off 26 balls put the game far out of Middlesex's reach and emphasised (if the dismal last few weeks, during which he has been injured, hadn't already done so) just what an important player he is for the team.

Those of us who were at Edgbaston in 2007 would already know that. Kent were wobbling in reply to Gloucestershire's 146 in the Twenty20 Cup final before Stevens' calm head sealed victory, as Robert Key admitted minutes afterwards. "Two overs before (the end) I was back in the dressing room kicking things around," the Kent captain said. "He (Stevens) got us here, and he's had some great innings in the middle order. He saw us home. We'd like to open with him but he's done too well and he's in the middle order for life."

Stevens aside, it was an evening that provided much to worry about. Apparently ticket sales for this year's Twenty20 Cup have been slow (with the notable exception of Kent) and a largely empty Lord's testifed to the limited appeal of a county cricket match on a cool/cold Spring evening. Shaun Udal, captain of Middlesex, was probably not far off when he suggested that overkill could be to blame, in The Independent.

"There's a danger we are going to kill it," he said. "It's typical of English cricket, you get something that's right and it gets overdone. We've got two Twenty20 competitions next year, the County Championship is starting on a ridiculously early date.

"It's daft, it's just being greedy. It's not good for the players – the strain on your body is too much – and it's not good for the spectators, who want to see the best players but won't because they're injured. We need to play less cricket – three competitions, not four: a Twenty20, a 50-over and a four-day competition."

He could have added that the competition has started too early this year and that it has been totally overshadowed by the forthcoming Ashes and World Twenty20. Next year - or even later this year - could see a return of bigger crowds.

The major worry is that this will only increase calls for a big-city-based franchise competition along the lines if the IPL. Those of us who suspect the IPL may not have as bright a future as some think must be alive to the threat to the Twenty20 Cup.

Och Aye oh no!

2009-05-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

Robert Key as a turnip: that's the image that would have appeared on this page, if only I had a modicum of the photoshopping skills to produce such an item (You'll have to make do with Mel Gibson, every Scottish patriot's hero, instead). Losing to Scotland? Oh, the shame. Worse still, it means Kent's chances of reaching the quarter-finals of the Friends Provident Trophy are hanging by a string.

Or are they? According to the rules of the competition:

Rule 5.7.4 The tie-breakers for teams finishing on equal points in
the same group will be:

(a) Most wins in Group Matches.

(b) When teams have both equal points and equal wins and
are in the same group, the teams will be ordered
according to which team achieved the most points in the
matches played between them.

(c) If still equal, the team with the higher net run rate in
the Group Matches will be placed in the higher position
(see below).

Assuming Kent beat Warwickshire - quite an assumption on current form - they will end up equal on points with Middlesex, having won the same amount of matches and having beaten each other. The tiebreaker will be net run rate: Kent are stuffed. Middlesex have scored around 500 more runs having conceded less.

Oh well. The fact is Kent were incredibly unlucky yesterday, having to stop and start for rain throughout their innings before Duckworth-Lewis handed a considerable advantage to the Scots. This sort of result could happen to anyone; Kent, I suppose, are more vulnerable than some due to the small size of their squad. Players out of form, like Joe Denly, cannot easily be replaced.

Kent's season is likley to continue in much the same vein as so far. A good run, followed by a bad one: squad size means that the club does not have the depth to deal with injuries to form men like Darren Stevens - badly missed recently. The focus this year must be on getting back into the first division of the county championship. On that front, Kent are sitting pretty.

Southgate pictures

2009-05-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Those who don't frequent the fans forum on the Kent CCC website might have missed these, taken by a poster called Ormondroyd, of the victory over Middlesex on Sunday.

'Much better nose than Michael Vaughan'

2009-05-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

After a Bank Holiday weekend during which Kent won three out of three matches, what better way to celebrate than by laughing at an eight-year-old website devoted to the captain of Scotland? The Saltires may have battled hard under skipper Gavin Hamilton (who grew up in Kent, fact fans) but it will take more than a gutsy defeat to outshine the magnificence of this bad boy. Created by a couple of hormonal girls from Yorkshire who promptly forgot about it in 2001, the site sagely notes that Hamilton has:

Cute dimples/ nice arse!! *grin* Much better nose than Michael Vaughan (I have this thing about noses!! *grin*)

There you go. It's short but sweet. Elsewhere, Hamilton took some positives from Scotland's four-wicket defeat on Monday. He told The Scotsman:

"We have to take heart from this and use it going forward. Scotland have had some great victories in the past and we all want to get back there. We beat a full strength Lancashire team last year and came close again so we know it is in there, we just have to find the performances consistently to make sure it happens. If everyone performs on their day then we can really compete with the counties."

David Beckham! The fat one out of Gavin and Stacey! And the skinny one! White stilettos! Can you hear me, white stilettos? Your boys took one hell...

2009-05-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

of a beating!

On a glorious early summer's day in England, Kent delivered a thumping beating to our chums across the Thames. Robbie Joseph was the hero, taking 6-55 as the 'Eagles' were swept aside in two sessions for just 155. Given that the home side had a first-innings lead of 165, it's quite a win - indeed, it's the biggest ever win by a side following on.

What makes it a little sweeter are the defeats we suffered to Essex last year. Let's hope we can make a habit of rubbing their noses in it this season.

Denly on front foot

2009-05-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Joe Denly has had a bit of a miserable start to the season - he was in and out twice at Chelmsford yesterday for a total of 19 runs - but he stands a good chance of being named in England's Twenty20 Squad later today, at least according to the Guardian.

Speaking to the Kentish Times, however, Denly was positive about what could be a very big season for him.

"It's great to be involved in that 30-man [Twenty20] squad but it's a pretty big squad and it is still to be cut down," he said. "My main focus, especially early on, is scoring runs for Kent and if I can do that and get myself in good form, then hopefully that can continue into the Twenty20 Cup and I can get in that final squad."

Nonetheless, Denly admits that being linked with an England place is a great incentive. He said: "It's quite nice to be spoken about in that way. That fills me with confidence, being spoken about in terms of England. It just makes me keener, more eager to get in the England side and not be left on the fringes."

To achieve that, Denly must score big runs for Kent, especially now the county finds itself in the second division of the County Championship for the first time. "I want to pass that 1000-run mark in four-day cricket this season," he said. "And then to get even more - 1,500 runs would be a great year."

How to prevent swine fever? A liberal application of oinkment, of course

2009-04-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

La grippe porcine, as our French cousins so charmingly call it, certainly has the world's media in its clammy grip. Its another tubby, pink-white mammal, however, that's being invading my thoughts in recent weeks. Forget Mexican porkers, I'm talking about Matthew Walker. Walks, as he's known (I can't think why) left Canterbury last year after 312 magnificent years of service, crossing the Thames to play for Essex.

Yesterday, playing for his new 'county', Walks got 99. It's amazing how often ex-players seem to come back to haunt their ex-teams. I say 'seem', because it probably doesn't actually happen that often - we just tend to notice it when it does, pointing it out to pals, raising our eyebrows, and saying something banal like: 'what a surprise, eh.'

Anyway, Kent are in deep slurry at Chelmsford (170-9 as I type, still 50 off avoiding the follow-on) and guess what? David Masters, of Chatham, Kent has taken two of the wickets. Do these people have no loyalty to the county that made them?

How many players have left Kent and gone on to greater things? You could make a case for Vince Wells, I suppose, and Paul Downton. Further back, there's Arthur Wellard, who Kent rather snottily snubbed - so he went off and became something of a legend in Somerset. David Gower, of course, went to school in Kent before sneaking off to Leics. Anyone else?

'I've stopped trying to be a proper batsman'

2009-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Geraint Jones: farmer, father, failed proper batsman. Kent's very own Tasmanian cafe-owner and new No 3 says that his century at Canterbury yesterday can be attributed to just trying to hit the ball. His century - and the subsequent partnership between Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens - looked to have set Kent up for victory against Northants but the tail's failure to wag means this match is far from over.

Meanwhile, here's something that you knew you would read again: Kent have signed a South African. Wayne Parnell, who has made four one-day appearances for the Proteas, will join initially on a six-week contract with a view to staying for the whole season. "We’re delighted that Wayne has decided to come to Kent, particularly at such short notice," said chairman of cricket Graham Johnson. “Graham Ford has seen him in action in recent weeks and believes he will do a fantastic job for us."

Other Kent news: Rob Key believes the IPL is good news for England; Steffan Jones is pleased to be at Canterbury; and the Kent team look a bit Arizona farmboy on the back of Kent on Sunday.

Peeling paint and high hopes

2009-04-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

A Kentish winter that started with dismal relegation and went on to take in mammoth losses, poor performances in England shirts and the embarassing Stuart Clarke farrago has drawn to a close. Canterbury is once again open for business and the optimism that goes with this time of year was tangible yesterday at the club's annual press day.

With some reason, too. Kent finished 2008 on their knees but for so much of that summer it looked like the club would record their best season since the 1970s: 'It could have been the sort of season you build an era on', a wistful Key said yesterday. Alas, it was not to be. Kent lost two finals and were relegated after defeat to the champions, Durham.

The result is that Kent face Northamptonshire in their first championship match of the season next week, at Canterbury. The fixture list could not have demonstrated the club's reduced circumstances any more brutally: in the world of county cricket, Northants are the pippiest of the pipsqueaks. If Kent cannot beat them, we could be in for a long season.

No need to worry on that front, in my view. The Kent side looks strong enough to go up at the first time of asking: few counties in this division can boast batsmen of the quality of Key and Martin Van Jaarsveld while Joe Denly is intent on reminding everyone of his quality, Darren Stephens has been in good form in pre-season and Sam Northeast's potential is mouthwatering. The attack looks decent, too: Robbie Joseph and Amjad Khan should have too much pace for most sides and Martin Saggers may enjoy an Indian summer thanks to the new ball being trialled in division two, which is expected to swing like a Malibu wifeswapping shindig. The only worry is with the slow stuff: James Tredwell must do better than last season and Rob Ferley has plenty to prove on his return.

Also pleasing is the number of young local players in and around the side. Today's team facing Loughborough UCCE includes eight homegrown players. Good news indeed. Let's hope a few of the youngsters can be around for years to come.

The only cloud on the horizon - and it's a big, dark cloud - is the club's finances. You can see it around Canterbury: paint is peeling from the advertising hordings and the Les Ames Stand, which is rustic at the best of times. Worst of all, hacks attending this year's press do got a Kent pencil, instead of the two bottles of Sheps ale on offer last year.

Still, there's plenty to look forward to. Let's hope this season can wash away the bad taste left by 2008.

Arafat goes back to Sussex

2008-10-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

The Kent side may have a very different look at the beginning of next season. While uncertainty is still hovering, little-bug-in-the-summer-like, over the retention of Martin van Jaarsveld, Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood for next year, it's now clear that Yasir Arafat has probably played his last match for the club. The Pakistan fast bowler has decided to return to Sussex.

Arafat, 26, left Hove for Canterbury in 2006 and was Kent's leading one-day and Twenty20 bowler with 27 wickets at 17.74. He also picked up 38 Championship wickets.

"Yasir's signing is fantastic news and we are flattered that he is keen to return to Hove," said Mark Robinson, Sussex's manager. "It's further evidence that people who play for the club fall in love with it.

"He's not only an outstanding new and old ball bowler, but a fantastic lower-middle order batsman, who should stand out in both our four and one-day cricket."

In cricketing terms, this is pretty bad news for KCCC: Arafat is a tremendoues one-day player and a wholehearted performer in any form of the game. In terms of the future of the club, however, his departure will probably save some money and, perhaps, allow a homegrown youngster some first-class experience.

Kent look to the future

2008-10-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing FWG likes, it's young people. Not in a weird way, of course, more in the sense of 'young people, aren't they a jolly bunch, with their i-pods, grime music and threesome sex-fests'. This especially applies to cricket, except for the sex-fest bit (more of a six-fest, ha ha). When a team is too full of experienced old pros, it can get jaded, it can get used to losing, it can suck the life right out of a club.

No-one wants that to happen, least of all Kent. Which is why they've announced today, and I quote, that 'three of the county’s leading young cricketers have signed Development Contracts with the club. Charlie Hemphrey, Phil Edwards and Warren Lee have accepted the club’s offer of contracts for 2009 whilst Alex Blake has accepted an offer which extends to the end of 2010. For Charlie Hemphrey, 2009 will be his second season as a development contract cricketer.'

Commenting, Phil Relf, Kent Academy Director said: “Development contracts give young cricketers a unique opportunity to be part of the professional team and provides them with an excellent opportunity to prove that they have what it takes to make it into the First Class game. I look forward to working with them next season.”

Kent also announced today that Sam Northeast will be playing cricket full time in 2009. Northeast, who left Harrow at the end of the summer, with an outstanding schoolboy record, has recently been selected for the England Under 19 Tour of South Africa next February. Graham Johnson, Chairman of Cricket commented: “We are obviously delighted that Sam has decided to play full time next season and also pleased that Alex Blake, Warren Lee and Charlie Hemphrey will also be able to play a full part in the cricket programme.

Phil Edwards is an interesting one: born on the Isle of Sheppey, he's a 24-year-old right-arm seamer who plays his club cricket for Gore Court. He appeared for Kent’s 2nd XI during 2008 and is a graduate of Cambridge University.

Chickens roosting, etc

2008-10-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned it often enough to have become deeply boring on the subject, but Kent's policy of importing moderately talented foreign cricketers is horribly flawed. Just how flawed we've had a bitter taste of these last few months, although the failures in the Twenty20 Cup final, Friends Provident final and championship could one day soon seem as a dog-shit starter when compared to the full horror of the 'Argentinian rugby team stranded in the Andes with hard decisions to make' main course yet to come.

How so, I hear you ask, your face contorted with disgust at the ill-considered food analogy above? The first taste came this week, with the news that Ryan McLaren is likely to turn his back on the club (scroll to the bottom of the article) in favour of international cricket with South Africa. It is the right decision: he is a South African and international cricket is the highest form of the game. I attack no blame to McLaren; rather, it is Kent's short-sightedness that has led to this decision.

Meanwhile, both Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood are playing in the ICL. Their presence in this competition, I'm sure you remember, was what prevented Kent from qualifying for the Champions League this autumn. Thier excuse at the time was that they signed their contracts before finding out what the repurcussions could be. What will the excuse be this time? What will they say if Kent somehow drag themselves into a third consecutive Twenty20 final and are again denied entry to domestic cricket's biggest jamboree? What will Graham Ford do? Will the pair play for Kent again? It beggars belief.

And what of Kent's academy? A recent article in the national press suggested that the club did not play more of their young, homegrown players because they did not feel they were tough enough. How are they expected to attain the right level of toughness without competing in first-class cricket? It has always been the nature of young players that you accept lesser performances in return for future returns. Why do Kent not take this view? Why didn't Sam Northeast (above) play a single match of significance last season?

Soon the club may have no choice but to play homegrown cricketers. If the imported stars drift away - back to their home countries, like McLaren, or in pursuit of greater wealth, like Kemp - then the club will have to use its youngsters, just like it did before the madness of the last few seasons, the exception being that we now have an official academy and our expectations should be correspondingly higher. I hope it comes to pass. The club really cannot afford to pursue this pathway - or rather this dead-end - of imported mediocrity for much longer.

Picking over the carcass

2008-09-29T03:15:00.001-07:00

Well, that was pretty disastrous. It's not 'oh the humanity' disastrous, of course; this is only county cricket. No-one dies and even if they did not many people would have seen it. It's a bit like when a tree falls in the forest: if no-one sees or hears it, has it really happened? Think about that one for a bit. Actually, don't bother.

Anyway - yes it has happened, Kent have been relegated after a season of bitter disappointment, and it ruined my weekend. As a result I've been wracking my brains as to who to blame. Some would say the South Africans: I wouldn't, although the fact that the club is full of well-paid foreigners is not entirely tangential to the issue. Others would rush to condemn Rob Key, who just weeks ago was tipped to be the next England captain; that looks less than likely now. There are even a few people who would blame a motley conspiracy of Graham Ford, M15 and the Dutch royal family. Such people can be safely ignored.

Ford did say something interesting in the aftermath of Saturday's capitulation, however, when he talked about the disadvantage of Kent's small squad. Now we all know Kent are a bit cash-strapped - they were probably the poorest county in Division One - which is why I always found it a little strange that no real effort was made to bring on young players with obvious talent. I was shocked when I learnt that Ryan McLaren was, at Kent, on double what he could expect from the South African cricket board. For a club with limited funds to spend so much on overseas talent seems like folly to me.

Nonetheless, it must be remembered that these 15 cricketers took the club to the brink of victory in both cup competitions. Unfortunately, 'to the brink of' is the key phrase there. Getting to a cup final is nice but if you don't win it then you might as well have lost in the first round. Too often down the years Kent have capitulated when under the greatest pressure. We thought 2007 marked a turning point - it didn't.

So what now? Well, there'll be plenty of time to prepare for glamorous trips to Northamton, Leicester and Derby over the winter. We've all got that prospect to keep us cosy through the long indoors months as Division One goes on without Kent for the first time (and for the first time, the champions will recieve £500,000).

There is an upside, though. Since we'll be playing crap teams, this is a perfect opportunity to regularly play some youngsters. Surely Ford (if he can resist the lure of New Zealand) will now turn to Sam Northeast - he's taken a year off from his studies in 2009 to concentrate on cricket. There are others who could make an impact for Kent next year, too: the likes of Alex Blake or Charlie Hemphrey. Let's hope they get a chance.

Cricket? Is that still going?

2008-09-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

It's simply wrong for cricket to be played this late into September. I mean, I know that it wasn't the best of summers and we weren't exactly basking in the sun through July and August but it's almost October, for goodness' sake. Jacket weather time. Chilly breezes. Frequent rain dumps. A good time to be inside, pretending you don't like on a brassic little island in the north Atlantic.

All that having beeen said, there is still quite an important cricket match at Canterbury this week. Not as important as it could have been - Kent's feeble capitulation in Liverpool last week means the club cannot win the title - but still pretty damn significant, in the county cricket scheme of things. Durham are the visitors and they must be beaten if Kent are to be sure of their first division status. Sure, Kent don't have to win to stay up - if Sussex and Yorks play out a low-scoring draw on the south coast, Kent will more than likely be safe - but to be sure they must win.

I'm not convinced they will. There's an old cricket law that dictates that the Spitfires never hold the bragging rights over another county for long. Thus victory in the Twenty20 semi-final over Essex was followed by crushing defeat in the Friends Provident final and the Pro40 promotion 'crunch'. Durham were easily beaten in the FP semi-final a few months back. I expect them to exact revenge for that and for Kent to be nervously checking up on events in Hove.

However, not to worry. Given that it is almost October, Kent fans can simply pretend it isn't happening. Cricket? Is that still going?

Canterbury fails

2008-09-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

While most of the country huddled indoors away from the wind and pelting rain on Saturday, Canterbury saw the better part of a day's cricket. 'Canterbury saw' is perhaps slightly misleading: the ground must have had 400 people in it at the very most. While the state of the match and the grim weather can be blamed for that, it did get one thinking about the future of the St Lawrence ground.

The plan for a hotel and assorted other gubbins (houses, etc) on part of the site now looks dead in the water, given the world financial situation. This creates a pretty serious problem, because Canterbury desperately needs an upgrade: careworn would be a kind way of describing what is admittedly still a charming venue when the sun shines. The Les Ames stand is in a pretty disgraceful state, for example: whatever you might think about the Rose Bowl, it has raised expectations of county grounds in terms of facilities and general upkeep and Canterbury looks horribly dated by comparison.

The situation does, however offer an interesting opportunity to the club. If we assume the upgrade of the ground will not happen - and it doesn't look likely in the near future - then the possiblity of moving the club's base to somewhere more central in Kent is an intriguing one.

Maidstone, dumped by the club a few years ago after a poor wicket cost Kent points, was mentioned in conversation on Saturday. It is central, Mote Park is a natural ampitheatre (like the Rose Bowl) and there is plenty of room around the ground to build stands, etc. Kent could create a modern ground in attractive surroundings with easy access from all four corners of the county. It wouldn't be easy - is the land owned by Maidstone County Council? What would happen to the St Lawrence Ground? - but given the way the modern game is changing, it would make decent sense. Whether that makes it more or less likley to happen, I don't know.

Weep like it's 1997

2008-08-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

It has taken me the best part of a week and a half to get over it: victory over Derbyshire last Monday just pissed me off, and the thumping Championship win over Lancashire reminded me of what this Kent team were capable of. Today Kent are batting first against Yorkshire at Scarborough: let's hope they make a better fist of it than they did a week last Saturday.

The capitulation against Essex makes seven Lord's final defeats in a row, which must be some sort of record (I cannot summon the enthusiasm to check). Can any other county match such a tale of woe? We haven't endured such a disappointing season since 1997, when Steve Marsh, then captain, admited that Kent were chokers after three trophies were lost with victory in sight.

Still, it's probably best not to connect this season's stumbles with a unique history of just coming up short. Last year, after all, we won the Twenty20 Cup, although in retrospect that looks like a case of Gloucestershire choking a bit harder than Kent. Maybe next season will be better?

For the moment, there is a distant possiblity of the Championship, although my hopes on that front remain resolutely dimmed. Robbie Joseph is bowling like a dream but it surely can't last; who will step up when he slips up? Meanwhile, the batting is still underperforming, despite Jones and Denly tons against Lancs. We're a good bet for second, though.

Kent continue Champions League fight

2008-08-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

The team who are expected to take Kent's place in the Champions League competition contains two Indian Cricket League players, according to Kent Online. The Spitfires finished second in this year's Twenty20 competition - which should have ensured qualification for the first-ever Champions League - but were denied entry due to the presence of Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood, who both played in the 'rebel' ICL, in the team.

The county's chief executivee Paul Millman said the matter was "not closed" as far as Kent were concerned. He said: "If we have been ruled out of this because of our ICL links then there would be a huge matter of inconsistency if the Sialkot side are allowed through and I would be outraged if a Pakistan team with ICL players were to replace us.

"The matter is not yet closed as far as we are concerned. We are in constant touch with the ECB who are sympathetic to our case and we are still trying to salvage something for Kent cricket out of it all."

All Out for 78

2008-08-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's a lot better than Kent's worst ever total - 18, against Sussex at Gravesend in 1867 (and I think we all remember how tough it was to bat at Gravesend in '67) - but Kent's effort at the Riverside this morning deserves some sort of mention. Only Joe Denly (21) and Robbie Joseph (14), the first and the last men in the batting order, managed to get into double figures. Alright, Durham only made 146 in their first dig but you'd have to be an optimist of the goosed-up on too much Coca Cola variety to believe this side has what it takes to win the title. Wouldn't you?

'It's their loss'

2008-08-01T04:32:00.000-07:00

'How did we get on today?' the conductor asked.

I was on the train back to London having watched the second day of Kent's current Championship match against Hampshire at Canterbury.

'Yeah, not too bad,' I replied. '230-odd for three. They got about 360.'

He seemed happy with that information. 'Looks like we're not going to be in this world Twenty20 thing, doesn'it it?'

'Yeah. It's all about money.' I shrugged.

'Oh well,' he replied, turning to check somebody else's ticket. 'It's their loss.'

Perhaps, perhaps not. It's certainly Kent's loss. The chance to be in at the start of what could become one of cricket's most significant tournaments, to win millions of pounds, to test your skills against the world's best domestic sides: this is what Kent have lost. 'They' - the BCCI, the other sides - have lost the chance to watch or play against England's second best side. It's not quite as bad.

It would have been interesting had Justin Kemp managed to take three runs off those last two balls on Saturday evening. I suspect, had that been the case, that no English teams would have gone to India. As it is, the ECB appear to have been forced into something of a climbdown in letting Middlesex go to India. The prospects of the ECB organising their own tournament in the Middle East - perhaps in Sharjai or Abu Dhabi - are receding by the day. There will be no big payday for Kent.

Which is a shame: however, the team have plenty to be proud of when they look back on the Twenty20 Finals (crowd pictured above; Rob Key talks on the big screen after the semi-final, above). To come so close after Middlesex's innings was superb, and Kemp deserved to finish it off given his doughty knock. Rob Key's side can take solace from the fact that they appeared to be the best supported side at Finals Day (former Middlesex and England seamer Gus Fraser, pictured below, sat amidst a large crowd of Kent fans) and that they will have a great chance next year to reverse the result, should they find a high-quality second spinner.

James Tredwell had a decent Twenty20 (despite Owais Shah's three consecutive sixes) but things have not gone so well for him in other forms of the game. He came in to bat for Kent on Thursday afternoon - Ladies' Day (see below) after Joe Denly was out, bowled for 89. The experiment of promoting Tredwell up the order - apparently to break up a run of right-handed batsmen - does not seem to have worked and his bowling has suffered. For that reason, Kent are unlikley to be champions - but there's still the Friends' Provident Trophy final. This could still be a fine season.

The fat laddie's not for turning

2008-07-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Kent supporters at last year's Twenty20 Finals had limited expectations. Defeat to Sussex in the first match would have been galling, but not a great surprise. Part of the joy of 2007's success was that it was so unexpected: Kent, after all, are the team that for the past thirty years have been turning underachievement into a defining characteristic. Six lost finals since 1978 (no wins); championship after championship lost just as the cup of victory was approaching the lip of expectation (ahem); depressing defeat after depressing defeat to inferior teams in important matches.

Many of us can remember 1997, when Steve Marsh's Kent side came within a whisker of three trophies. After the dust had settled on the season, Marsh admitted that perhaps Kent were bottlers. In reality, there was no perhaps about it. The team had blown it.

Things changed last year. Perhaps because of the quality of captaincy, perhaps because much of the side now hails from outside the county, perhaps because of the club's canny, quiet coach Graham Ford, Kent now bear the halo of winners. 1997 was the season when one of the English game's biggest names reclaimed its place at the top table of county cricket.

That was then. Kent have it all to do if they are to repeat last year's victory on Saturday. Firstly they must navigate their way past Essex, who boast this season's revelation Graham Napier plus mr big bat, small brain Ravi Bopara. Neil Dexter will be cup-tied meaning only David Masters, who has enjoyed a decent season (he took an excellent 2-17 from four overs in Essex's quarter-final win over Northamptonshire), will have the extra motivation of getting one on over his (not quite, in Dexter's case) former employer.

Essex will have at least one extra reason to want to win than Kent. Lalit Modi, the fat controller of Indian cricket, has once again stated that teams with ICL players will not be welcome at the Champions League in September. That means Kent are out and Essex are, possibly, in.

Dog's dinner delays demise

2008-07-17T02:26:00.000-07:00

Will Kent County Cricket Club exist in ten years' time? Despite yesterday's announcement of a new English Premier League Twenty20 competition involving all 18 first class counties, I'm not optimisitic. A lot of the reaction to the decision to reject a proposed nine-team league of franchises has been negative: Andrew Miller, writing for Cricinfo, goes further tham most but he sums up a feeling of frustration that a great opportunity for domestic cricket had gone begging.

I don't think he's right - 'invented' sporting institutions (as the nine franchises would have been) have a sketchy track record at best (those who know a bit about South African rugby will acknowledge this) and much of the support for the nine-team league seems to have been based on attracting investors almost as dodgy as some of those who own football teams in this country - but his opinion appears to be much closer to the cricket world's view than mine. The IPL has changed everything: money rules the game, and if cricket can attract more cash with a game involving Vodafone London against Sibneft Southampton, then that's the way we're going.

This will, of course, have serious consequences for Kent. I think if the club is to have any future then Canterbury's role as its headquarters must come under serious scrutiny. Canterbury is a small town and Kent struggle to attract big Twenty20 crowds there: 5,500 was great in the days before Twenty20 but it looks a bit meagre now. There must be serious thought given to developing Beckenham or even to seeking a third site closer to the metropolis - or perhaps in the Medway towns - where the club can attract the sort of attendances (15,000+) that would make it a viable option for what seems to me to be an inevitable next step: a smaller competition more akin to the Indian Premier League. I don't think it will be a long time coming.

Rain and revenge

2008-07-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Due to the latest chilling installment of what has been another appalling summer, weather-wise (thanks, Gordon Brown - can't you get anything right?) Kent's cataclysmic clash with Warwickshire will have to wait until tomorrow. Given that the forecast for Thursday is little better than today, the game could be destined for a bowl-out.

Brrr. Those two little words should send a shiver down the spine of any Kent fan worth his/her salt. Who can forget the appalling events of 1994, when the Bears knocked Kent out of the Benson and Hedges Cup thanks to a bowl-out in the indoor school at Edgbaston? The bowl-out only happened because Warwickshire, in their wisdom, decided to 'air' the ground to combat fungus rather than use the Brumbrella (RIP), an enormous cover, to protect it from falling rain. Divvies.

Kent lost the bowl-out and the clubs exchanged letters of complaint: for seasons after, neither committee visited the other's ground until faces changed and memories faded.

The Spitfires made a habit of losing to Dermot Reeve's Warwickshire in the 1990s but 2001's Sunday League win seemed to break the spell. This year, the Bears have had a great qualifying campaign in the Twenty20 but they're not in the same class as Kent as a team. There's no-one in their team who should worry Kent and they qualified from a very poor group (results so far, with Middlesex and Essex progressing, suggest that the southern group is far and away the strongest).

Anything can happen in Twenty20, it's true, but if Kent lose this on anything other than a bowl-out I won't be the only one suspecting the pernicious influence of Dermot Reeve.

Underdogs to have their day?

2008-07-04T03:14:00.000-07:00

Durham is renowned for three things: a magnificent cathedral, a university stuffed to the gills with Oxbridge rejects, and a cricket team that for a long time was a bit of a joke. Well the cathedral and the hoorays are still much part of the frozen northern scene (right) but Durham are a serious outfit these days, and worthy of any cricket fan's respect.

Long gone is the time when ex-Sussex (and England one-Test wonder) Paul Parker led a raggle-taggle band of old pros: Durham are arguably the best-run county in cricket. Talent like Paul Collingwood, Steven Harmison, Liam Plunkett, Graham Onions and Philip Mustard has rolled off the Dynamos production line over the past few years: what Kent (who, we are told, have plenty of promising young homegrown players) would give for such a record of academy success. Of course, Kent were once renowned for producing their own players, but the club appears to (temporarily at least) have outsourced that job to South Africa.

Kent are second favourites today (Oddschecker has the team at 11/10 if you fancy a punt) and rightly so. Durham won this tournament last year with an extremely satisfying destruction of Shane Warne's Hampshire. The Dynamo's will include Collingwood and Shaun Pollock today.

Durham have won the toss and will field. The weather doesn't look too smart, and I can't help feeling the prospects for Kent are not that bright either. We shall see.

Jarra dabba doo!

2008-07-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

What can you say about Martin van Jaarsveld's performance against Surrey? You could start by noting that he is the first player to score two centuries and take a fivefer in one match for Kent, and only the 12th person to do it in the history of the game. You could add that, even after his first ton, the saving grace of Kent's first innings, Surrey looked totally in charge - but when MVJ took 5-33 with his unheralded off-spinners, the game was on.

Finally you could point out that while Kent were still outsiders for victory, Jarra, as he's apparently known in South Africa, though differently even when they slumped to 28-3. With the help of Darren Stevens (63) and Geraint Jones (39), he led Kent to one of their more remarkable recent Championship victories.

Asked on the Kent CCC website if this was his greatest achievement for the county, he replied: "I think so. For me, the icing on the cake was to be there at the end. I’ve chipped in with some good contributions over the years but to be there at the end and see Kent to victory was pretty special.

"I love this club and really care passionately about how well we do."

Kent ready to dip toes in the Mote again

2008-06-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

After Kent's resounding victory over Sussex saw them into the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup, more good news: it seems the county could be returning to The Mote in Maidstone, which last saw first-class action in 2005.

The Kent Messenger reported yesterday that Kent could be back in the county town by 2010 if plans for redeveloping the ground come to fruition. The club were docked eight points in 2005 after beating Gloucestershire within two days on a pitch that was deemed unsatisfactory by the board’s pitch panel.

A venue for Kent matches since 1857, The Mote spent £14,000 re-laying four new pitches on their square last year which will be tested for the first time later this summer when Kent Under-17s take on Somerset.
Though a scheme involving local developers Hillreed Homes never came to fruition, the chairman of The Mote’s ground committee Brian Piper is hopeful a new plan will help reinvigorate the county town club, put its financial status on a firmer footing and attract first-class cricket again.

Crucial evening for Kent

2008-06-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Beat Sussex this evening, and Kent are through to the quarter finals: lose, and they're out. It's a scenario that seemed unlikely at the start of this week, but defeats to Middlesex and Surrey mean the Spitfires face a do-or-die, crunch, must-win (etc) match in Hove tonight.

It's been a strange campaign. After four games, Kent looked certain to go through to the quarter-finals: three had been won and the other, an away loss to Hampshire, could be explained away partly by tiredness after a game the previous day in front of a packed Oval. Things continued to look good as the club progressed to five-and-two after seven, but two defeats this week has put Kent at serious risk of flopping a year after winning this compeition.

Speaking of The Oval, Kent's game there two weeks ago was an interesting experience. When Twenty20 was launched there was much talk of attracting new supporters to the game: on the basis of The Oval crowd, I'd have to say that has not happened. Most were there to chat, loudly, to their be-suited mates and make plastic glass snakes. Bovine chanting was the order of the day in the OCS Stand ('Van Jaarsveld takes it up the arse' was the nadir) and I'd wager that at least half of the crowd did not notice the match was finished. Still, it keeps Surrey's coffers full.

Enough moaning about the Oval: Simon Cook and Justin Kemp are out tonight which, it goes without saying, is terrible news for Kent. Hopefully Joe Denly can recover his Twenty20 form and, batting first, the team can post a score big enough to quell a Sussex side that cannot qualify for the next round. It doesn't really matter how they do it though: this is a match Kent simply must win.

Short and sweet

2008-06-10T03:25:00.000-07:00

And so Twenty20 is almost upon us: this brutally short form of the game, which has taken the cricketing world by force in the last 18 months and which gave Kent its finest moment since the 1970s at Edgbaston just under a year ago (Ryan McLaren and Robert Key celebrate, right). Who can forget the confusion after Darren Stevens hit the winning runs off a Gloucestershire no-ball? It seems a shame, in retrospect, that the moment of victory was clouded but when you've waited for so long to win a major final (having lost so many in the interim) I suppose it matters not how you win, just as long as you do.

This year's champion (and runner-up, for that matter) have the extra carrot of a place in the Twenty20 'Champions League', which is likely to be played in Dubai in September. Kent can have realistic hopes of filling one of those spots (not withstanding the threats by Lalit Modi, the Indian Premier League's commissioner, that ICL players - such as Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood - will not welcome at the global event), particularly as they've improved as a one-day until since last year's triumph.

The Kent team is built for the shorter forms of the game: Graham Ford and Robert Key may not say so publically, but it's as clear as day. With so many all-rounders Kent are never out of the game with bat or ball and it would be a major surprise for Frank Woolley's Ghost if the county do not make at least the quarter-finals.

With the first three matches spread over four days (Sussex tomorrow at home, then Surrey at the Oval on Friday before a lunchtime date with Hampshire at the Rose Bowl on Saturday) we shall soon know how likely it is that Kent can repeat last year's triumph. There is good reason to be optimistic.

Western power threatens Canterbury

2008-06-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

And so the first undeniably big match of the season arrives: yes, there are those who would argue that all Championship matches outrank all one-day matches, but Kent's coffers would sing a different tune. Somerset are the visitors for a Friends' Provident Trophy quarter-final that the home side must believe they can win, despite the recent 21-run defeat at Tunbridge Wells.

This Kent side is made to play the one-day game. A solid upper-order is followed by all-rounder after all-rounder: Justin Kemp, Ryan McLaren, Azhar Mahmood, Yasir Arafat, James Tredwell - even Darren Stevens, whose part-time right-arm medium pace proved vital in last year's Twenty20 Cup, qualifies.

That being said, Somerset have a handful of really good players - Ian Blackwell, for one, is in frighteningly good form - and an excellent batting track will ensure lots of runs. Kent just need to make sure they score one more than the cider-lovers. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Denly the right man at the right time

2008-05-25T05:19:00.001-07:00

Here's a bold, some would say foolhardy prediction: Joe Denly will be part of the England set-up for next year's Ashes. Denly, who scored a magnificent career-best 149 in Kent's 20-run defeat to Somerset yesterday, endured a poor trip with the England Lions this past winter but has dragged himself out of his batting rut in the last few weeks. This latest knock is of a similar calibre to one Denly made almost exactly a year ago, when he carried his bat for 115 in a Kent innings of 199 against a very strong Hampshire attack (Warne, Clarke, Mascarenhas, Tremlett, Ervine). At that time you began to suspect he might have what it takes to play for England: this latest knock reinforces that initial view. England's batting line-up has looked stale and unmotivated in the current Old Trafford Test. Step forward, Joe Denly.

Kent, meanwhile, will be disappointed that they have been beaten after establishing a useful first-innings lead. There are problems that need to be adressed: poor fielding, Tredwell's indifferent start to the season with the ball, the top order's consistent failure to score runs. If Kent want to remai in this division they will have to shape up. Meanwhile, a place in the Friends Provident quarter-finals is at stake tomorrow if Kent can take at least a point from a match with Middlesex - the weather may see to that.

Mahmood feasts as Surrey choke

2008-05-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

Kent have now won five consecutive matches in the Friend's Provident Trophy, leaving them on the brink of qualification for the quarter-finals. Yesterday's win over Surrey was perhaps the least likely: a remarkable late slump by the hapless brown-hatters, sparked by four wickets from Azhar Mahmood, meant the efforts of Mark Butcher - who scored 139 in quick time - were wasted.

Justin Kemp's arrival two weeks ago appears to have galvanised the hop county's XI. Joe Denly is slowly working his way back into form while Darren Stevens, such a useful player for Kent in the shorter forms of the game, struck his first one-day ton for the county yesterday. Martin van Jaarseveld is having a fine season and Robert Key will surely continue to score heavily in the coming weeks as the focus on England's lacklustre top order increases.

Graham's Ford mixture of South African journeymen, Pakistani all-rounders and the occasional homegrown talent appears to be doing the trick although a tricky-looking Championship game against Somerset (who have real class in the shape of Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer) at Tunbridge Wells, starting on Wednesday, will be instructive. There are many Kent supporters who would not care if the team were composed entirely of Bloemfontein-born all-rounders although an article in the Sunday Telegraph by Steve James spells out exactly what that might mean for Kent or other counties where local talent withers on the vine; wiser money, he points out, was spent on the Millenium Dome than is spent by the ECB on counties like Leicestershire, Northamptonshire - and Kent?

Denly's back, Kent on track

2008-05-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

Joe Denly emerged from his early-season slump with an unbeaten 83 as Kent dismissed hapless Sussex from their presence at Canterbury yesterday. The opener, touted for England honours last season, has struggled so far this year but the confidence with which he went about his business yesterday suggests things are looking up.

Asked about his poor form by the official Kent website, he said: "No, it hasn’t [been the best of starts to a season]. I’ve endured a slow start but I have good faith in my ability. I wouldn’t say that it is anything to do with my technique. I’ve looked nice and compact technically but it’s just been a bit frustrating for me. I’ve kept putting in the hard work and I’m pleased to have weighed in with 83 and repaid the faith that Kent continue to show in me."

Kent's 9-wicket victory over Sussex completed a fine weekend for Martin van Jaarsveld, who scored 109 not out against the Hove side after having led Kent to their first championship victory of the season up at Trent Bridge. The hop county have now won four games on the trot: the high hopes with which they began the campaign are beginning to look a little more realistic.

Kemp makes the difference

2008-05-06T03:03:00.000-07:00

Before Sunday's game at Sussex, Kent were staring at an early elimination from the Friends Provident Trophy following two defeats from two matches. All that has now changed: thanks to the sizeable presence of Justin Kemp, who propelled Kent to victories on the south coast and then at The Oval, the county can now have reasonable hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.

But let's not get too excited: that should really be their minimum target given the one-day talent in the side. With Yasir Arafat coming in at No 10, the batting is extraordinarily deep while the bowling, led by the self-same Arafat and the until-now out-of-form Ryan McLaren, is starting to look the business.

The key man this weekend was Kemp. A decisive 68 not out was followed by 63 against Surrey after Kent had stumbled into serious early trouble at 52-4. If his current form continues a big century cannot be too far away.

Also impressive yesterday was Geraint Jones. He has looked out of sorts ever since getting the final push from England before the Melbourne Test in 2007, but yesterday saw a litle of the old Jones. Tentative at first, he unleased a couple of mighty strokes in the last few overs to help put Kent's score far beyond what feeble Surrey could manage. The Brown-hatters do look rather a case of 'Ramprakash out, all out'. Long may it continue.

Attention now turns to possible revenge against Notts in Nottingham, starting tomorrow. Rob Key will not be available - he's captaining the England Lions - so Martin van Jaarsveld will take charge. Hopefully Joe Denly will recover some form - a 50 would suffice - and Kent will post a big first-innings score and put pressure on a decent but not spectacular Notts batting line-up. We shall see.

Pictures of Dilley...

2008-05-02T03:05:00.000-07:00

... with apologies to The Who.

In the absence of a great deal of Kent news, here's a fantastic picture of Graham Dilley in his pomp:

Kemp wins appeal

2008-04-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Justin Kemp has won his appeal against the ECB's decison not to grant him a registration for this season. The South African all-rounder will now join up with the rest of the Kent team for Sunday's Friends Provident Trophy game with Sussex in Hove.

A delighted Kemp told the Kent Messenger: "I'm extremely relieved. There's so much relief because I've suffered for almost three months not knowing what's really going to happen."

Kent Chief Executive Paul Millman added: "There was some testing cross examination and I had sweaty palms during the wait for the verdict, but clearly we're delighted and I'm just about to take Justin for a pint, after which he can just get on with playing his cricket, which is all he wants to do."

Rob Key for England!

2008-04-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

There appears to be a campaign building for Robert Key to return to his rightful place in the England side: his jolly, pink-red features have been spotted these last few weeks in a number of newspapers and cricket websites. Typical was this piece in The Independent.

Well, the Beckenham battler did his cause no harm in hitting 178 not out against the Kiwi tourists on Monday: the announcement of his selection as captain of the England Lions to play the self-same New Zealanders on May 8 shows that he's now very close to a return. He'll probably have to wait, though: with his good friend Andrew Flintoff back in contention a batsman will probably already have to go. If there's an injury, he's got a chance but more likely he'll have to wait for a poor run from an England incumbent - Andrew Strauss, for example.

The end comes a step closer

2008-04-25T03:23:00.000-07:00

As James Tredwell struggles manfully to give some semblance of respectability to the Kent first innings at Hove, the cricket world moves on apace. A sort of mania appears to have gripped those in charge of the English game: we must respond to the IPL, we must grasp this opportunity. Thus a new domestic Twenty20 competition, as reported this morning by the Guardian.

Speaking as someone who appreciates that county cricket is deeply flawed, I can't help but despise this idea. What really worries me is that while I can't get excited by the prospect of a London or South team, I fear there are many who can. If the South team managed to sign Ms Dhoni and Ricky Ponting, the grounds would surely be full, even if these sides would be nothing more than six cricketing versions of the Harlem Globetrotters. Ponting could play for Tasmania, the Kolkatta Knight Riders and 'South' all in one year, a bat for hire.

Still, it would bring a lot of money into the game - and that, as we all know, is the main thing.

Magnificent seven?

2008-04-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Kent enjoyed an excellent first day against champions Sussex at Hove yesterday, but that wasn't the real story. As manfully as Yasir Arafat strived to take 4-68 against his former county, the most notable feature of the contest was the make-up of the visiting team. Remarkably, thanks to the illness-enforced absence of captain Robert Key, seven of the Kent side who took the field were from outside the UK: just three who took the field came from Kent (Walker, Denly, Tredwell) while one (Stevens) hails from elsewhere in England. This must surely be some sort of a record.

It is really incredible that a county which has built a tradition of homegrown players has managed to throw it away in a few short years. Look at the Kent team that came within four points of winning the title in 1997: this was the side that faced Sussex that season. There were eight homegrown players, and Mark Ealham, perhaps the best of the lot, was not available for that match.

There is, however, a silver lining. Kent's Academy is about ready to bear fruit and the likes of Sam Northeast (pictured above), Paul Dixey, Alex Blake, James Iles, James Goodman, Charlie Hemphrey and Matt Coles could join Joe Denly in the first team over the next few seasons. Let's hope this failure to bring on talented young Kentish players is a blip and not the end of 100 years of a very proud tradition.

Key and Tredwell make England squad

2008-04-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

Kent captain Robert Key and off-spinner James Tredwell have been named in England's Performance Squad for the 2008 international summer.

Key, who last played for England in 2005 in South Africa, said recently that he is very keen to return to the England fold. "I keep hearing that I'm happy with just captaining Kent and I'm not worried about England," he said. "That's not the case. My first goal is getting back into that England team, and that goes hand in hand with me performing well for Kent."

Two beatings and a funeral

2008-04-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

The IPL roared into life on Friday night, all star-spangled cheerleader's pants, whooping, arm-flailing crowds and Evil Knievel-flashy batting helmets. With each mighty swing of his bat Brendon McCullum appeared to be driving home the point every man and his dog has made over the last few weeks: cricket will never be the same again. The game has changed.

Well, that's not quite true. Kent have enjoyed any number of mediocre starts to the season down the years and 2008 is refusing thus far to be an exception. After my rain dance failed (thanks, Jeebus) on Saturday morning and Nottinghamshire claimed a 10-wicket win at Canterbury, Essex arrived on Sunday and adminstered a 31-run defeat to the home side in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Things will surely get better - they always do - but, if Kent chief executive Paul Millman's prediction is correct, the situation for four-day cricket may be terminal. Speaking in the Independent on Sunday, Millman mused that Twenty20 could one day be the only show in town.

"One day we will wake up and cricket will all be Twenty20," said Millman. "People will say, 'Do you remember the days when we played in whites over four days?' That is not what the traditionalists want to hear, but I think it is a very real possibility."

Doing the rain dance

2008-04-19T03:16:00.001-07:00

At this very moment, I'm jigging around my front room with an umbrella in my left hand and a packet of fruit pastilles in my right. Why? Well, I'm doing a traditional Cherokee rain dance of course! Light drizzle has delayed the start of the fourth day at Canterbury, where Notts need just 22 runs to complete victory. However the weather forecast suggests that's no inevitability.

And as I write, they're underway. Time for a bit more hi-energy jigging.

Kent cast into darkness by tricky Notts

2008-04-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning, there was optimism. Kent were clearly light on a seamer or two, but the apparent strength of the batting allied to some all-round ability and James Tredwell's spin gave cause to be positive about this season.

On Friday morning, all is black - coal-dark, subterranean black. The black of death, of permanent eclipse - a very black black indeed.

Well, not quite, but Kent have made a total mess so far of this first Championship match of the season against a side - Nottinghamshire - that appears moderate at best on paper. Skittled by a club cricketer on Wednesday (Darren Pattinson), Kent appeared to have dragged themselves back into contention with Darren Stevens' four wickets on the second morning. Unfortunately, we reckoned without 'Lion of Ashford' Mark Ealham, who scored his first first-class ton in almost two years to put Notts firmly in the driving seat.

It's hard to draw conclusions after two days of cricket, but it's much easier to say what it is that has been so disappointing. Firstly - the upper-order batting collapse: only the redoubtable Robert Key appears to have turned up at Canterbury intent on victory. Joe Denly has brought his winter form with him while Martin van Jaarsveld (so dominant in pre-season), Matthew Walker and Darren Stevens mustered not a single run between them.

Secondly, the weakness of the seam attack. There was cautious talk before the season began about easing Amjad Khan back into action - on the evidence of the last two days, Kent need him as soon as possible. The fact that Darren Stevens took the most Notts wickets should be a source of some shame for Kent's frontline bowling attack.

Oh, well: there are still two days to go, and Kent have made a habit of batting better in the second innings than the first over recent seasons: today, they can hardly fail to beat 162. Let's hope Denly recovers his form of last season to help Key post a big first-innings partnership and we can be thinking of at least a draw by tomorrow morning.

Kent teach students a lesson

2008-04-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

There are some things that are clearly perverse and wrong yet, against all the odds, they persist. I'm talking about Jade Goody's career; hot-dogs in tins; fat kids in grubby Manchester United shirts, eating crisps with their bulbous, misshapen hands. That sort of thing.

County teams playing university sides at the start of the season goes into the same category. What exactly is the point? The gulf in quality is immense - neither the county side nor the students (such as the one pictured above) can be getting very much out of it. Sportsmen improve and show what they're made of when placed under pressure - when there is real competition. You're more likely to find your foot tapping along to one of James Blunt's 'hits' than you are to witness a competitive game between a county and a university.

Thus it is that at Canterbury today, Kent are beating Leeds-Bradford UCCE like a red-headed stepchild: the home side are 328/2 at tea, having scored at more than five an over. Can Denly and Key have ever scored easier tons? Not having witnessed their entire cricketing careers, I couldn't say, but I doubt it.

Still, I suppose the fact that Kent have picked Charlie Hemphrey, Matt Coles (scroll down) and James Iles adds a little value. Not much, though. It's not like it's a proper match.

Canterbury Tale

2008-04-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday saw this year's Kent Press Day, when local hacks get a chance to ask Kent players how pre-season has gone and what their targets are for the season. Some pretty banal questions have been asked down the years: I once sat next to a reporter at the opening press conference who asked then captain David Fulton how he was planning to beat Surrey. Somewhat nonplussed, Fulton replied that the plan was for Kent to play better than the Brown-hatters.

This year, though, things were different. Even in Canterbury - which can feel, even at the best of times, a long way from the action - the shadow of events in India had cast a long shadow. Chief Executive Paul Millman admitted he found the Indian Premier League to be 'exciting' but that it needed to be properly handled. Coach Graham Ford said that 'the world of cricket has gone absolutely crazy', and that he couldn't predict what events in India would mean for county cricket over the next couple of seasons.

Kent, of course, have already been affected by the Indian revolution, albeit by the rebel Indian Cricket League rather than the IPL. It was announced today that South African Justin Kemp’s application to play County Cricket for Kent this summer has been turned down by the ECB. The Club has been offered the opportunity to appeal against this decision and plans to do so.

Millman said: “This decision is both surprising and disappointing for both the Club and for Justin. We intend to lodge an appeal with the ECB and we expect Justin to travel to the UK to present his case in person. He remains totally committed to a long-term career with Kent and we are determined to make it clear to the ECB that English County Cricket is his priority.”

The ECB has indicated that an appeal hearing could be convened in the not too distant future, bearing in mind the proximity to the start of the 2008 domestic season.

Other news that emerged on Tuesday was that both Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat are expected in Kent by the end of this week, that the redevelopment of Canterbury would have to wait until after Tunbridge Wells week in May and that Kent captain Robert Key was still very keen to play for England.

"I keep hearing that I'm happy with just captaining Kent and I'm not worried about England," a slightly exasperated Key said. "That's not the case. My first goal is getting back into that England team, and that goes hand in hand with me performing well for Kent."

Kent enjoy VJ day

2008-04-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Kent made the perfect start to their pre-season with a seven-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire at the St Lawrence ground yesterday. Martin van Jaarsveld hit 105 not out as the county easily surpassed Notts' feeble 50-over total of 188-7.

22-year-old south Londoner and fast bowler David Burton was the pick of the Kent bowlers, taking 3-46, while Hythe off-spinner Charlie Hemphrey - who has apparently impressed in pre-season training - managed a respectable 0-15 from five overs.

The same teams are playing again today in Canterbury and, as I write, Kent look to be heading for another victory. The Spitfires made 258 from their 50 overs (Tredwell 61 no) and Notts are struggling in reply at 121-5.

Kent's final pre-season friendly is scheduled to take place over two days beginning on Wednesday 9 April at Beckenham, with Surrey providing the opposition.

Deano does 'em Down Under

2008-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

One of Frank Woolley's Ghost's numerous readers spotted Dean Headley strolling down Fleet Street last week. Resplendent in cream-coloured silk tie and shiny patent leather shoes, Deano was no doubt on the Street of Shame as part of a clever plan to expand the Kent on Sunday empire.

Headley's role at the KoS was highlighted in a lunchtime segment during the recent third Test in New Zealand, when he talked about his exploits during the Fourth Test of the 1998/9 Ashes at Melbourne. Dean, who took 6-60 in Australia's second innings of the match (which England won, thrillingly, by just 12 runs), was filmed at the KoS headquarters looking thoughtful and purposeful in equal measure as he discussed the events of that remarkable day. For those who have forgotten what exactly happened, here's all the fourth innings drama in full.

There are plenty of other superb Kent-related moments on YouTube, such as a compilation of Alan Knott's finest moments, or his partner-in-crime Derek Underwood's legendary display at The Oval in 1968.

Colin Cowdrey answered England's call in 1974-5 when Lillee and Thomson were at their peak, and he must have had moments when he regretted that decision. Ouch.

Easter Dregs

2008-03-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

While the rest of us have been eating and celebrating the frankly rather unlikely resurrection of Jeebers, Kent have enjoyed some mixed news. Justin Kemp (right), the big-hitting South African, will not be at Canterbury this season after the ECB revoked his registration on the grounds that he is playing in the rebel ICL. Fellow rebel leaguer Azhar Mahmood, however, will play for Kent after he got the go-ahead.

Kent say they'll challenge the decision, although that will surely take the form of a strongly-worded letter rather than anything more serious. Looking on the bright side, the decision gives the club a chance to play some homegrown youngsters rather than Kolpak stars. Give Joe Denly's impressive 2007, thee couldn't be a better time to blood a few of the club's other young talents.

What Smith tells us about life

2008-03-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

Kent's erstwhile opener Ed Smith has been enjoying some good press. Smith, who now captains Middlesex, has just released his third book, the rather pompously titled 'What Sport Tells Us About Life'. Most reviewers have been exceptionally complementary. Matthew Syed, writing in the Times, captured the general theme when he wrote: "Sport tells us much about life. It is Smith's achievement to show us why."

In the Independent, meanwhile, Stephen Brenkley (in an article above which the subhead described Smith as 'the most unusual and clever man to play for England' Really?) wrote that "[Smith has produced] an utterly enthralling reflection titled What Sport Tells Us About Life, published last week.

"It is a series of thoughtful, diverting and pertinent essays which might equally have been called What Life Tells Us About Sport. Some, perhaps most, sections are compelling, some blindingly obvious, some contain self-evident truths, some contain highly entertaining cod psychology, some furnish deep and original thought on how and why sport should be played and how and why it matters."

Not everyone, though, is quite so carried away by Smith's tome. The Daily Telegraph's Andy Miller wrote: "What Sport Tells us about Life, to borrow Lord Reith's motto, educates, informs and entertains. Your dad will love it. But too often I was reminded of Umberto Eco's definition of the football fan: "He has a strange defect: he cannot understand why you are not a fan yourself, and he insists on talking to you as if you were."

"For all this book's conspicuous erudition and ingenuity in forging thematic links, Smith takes a Panglossian view of sport's power, and cannot accommodate the flip side of sporting culture: its violence, corruption and racism; its usefulness to governments, media moguls and clothing companies.

"As such, Smith can only ever tell half the story - the nice half.

"Before tackling the question of what sport tells us about life, we might do well to remember that what life teaches us about sport is not always so neat, inclusive or heroic."

Perhaps the most amusing reaction to the book came in the Wisden Cricketer. The April edition - which trumpets 'Pace is Back' on the front page, Shoot-style - features first an article by Smith (on how county cricket has changed) and then a review of his book by Matthew Engel. The headline - 'A magisterial thesis on the meaning of sport' - leaves us in no doubt as to what is to follow. 'A potential classic', 'beautifully written', 'For administrators it should be made compulsory': Engel, who refers, slightly strangely, to the author as both 'Ed' and 'Smith' at different points, is a big fan.

I must admit to some doubts. Smith's book may well be a potential classic, but going on his first book - 'Playing Hard Ball' - which received similarly swooning write-ups, it's hard to be certain. That one was fine on county cricket, but many of the observations on baseball seemed half-baked, forced or grindingly obvious to those who knew a bit about America's national pastime.

Still, I expect Andrew Symonds will be straight down to his local Borders when 'What Sport Tells Us About Life' is released Down Under.

Arafat cleared to play for Kent

2008-03-14T07:57:00.001-07:00

Yasir Arafat will be back at Kent this season. The 26-year-old, who impressed in the Twenty20 in 2007, slots into an a all-rounder heavy Kent middle order alongside compatriot Azhar Mahmood and (possibly, pending a decision on ICL players) Justin Kemp.

"We are delighted that Yasir is coming back to play for us again," Graham Ford, Kent's director of cricket, said. "He made an immense contribution to the playing squad last year and I know he is keen to repeat his performance for the club again this year."

Kent have been waiting for clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board to sign Arafat. The move suggests one-day trophies are the target this year, particularly as clubs without top-class overseas spinners tend to struggle in the Championship.

Kemp and Mahmood on ICL ground

2008-03-12T01:51:00.000-07:00

Kent's two winter signings, the South African Justin Kemp and the Pakistani Azhar Mahmood, have been caught in the middle of the furore over the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.

The pair are both signed up to appear in the league's upcoming Twenty20 competition which could disqualify them from playing for Kent next season.

Kent chief executive Paul Millman told BBC Radio Kent: "They're caught in the firing line in this one. Hopefully pragmatism will prevail, but it might end in the courts."

Whatever happens with Kemp and Mahmood, it's easy to see that the two Indian leagues are going to wreak havoc with county cricket. The next few years are going to be very interesting, to say the least.

Patel lays down his cards

2008-03-03T04:13:00.000-08:00

County cricket can be a bizarre and bewildering place. Perched on the fringes of the national sporting consciousness, it can swallow a cricketer whole, only spitting them out years later when you spot their name somewhere in the Derbyshire middle order. There are plenty of players (too many, some would say) who trudge along for years without ever really making an impression.

You could never have said that about Min Patel, whose lengthy Kent career nevertheless came to an end with a whimper rather than a bang last month. Patel, who made his first-class debut in 1989, has frequently ended the season towards the top of the first-class averages without really threatening to break into the England team. Except, of course, in 1996, when he was picked to play for England against India, the nation of his birth. Things didn’t go entirely to plan: he bowled only ten overs on a green top at Edgbaston before leaking runs at Trent Bridge. That would be his final chance at international level.

In the county game it was a different story: Patel’s languid run-up and long, spidery fingers allowed him formidable control (if not prodigious turn) and he was easily among the best England-qualified spinners for over a decade. Patel was as laidback of the field as he occasionally appeared on it: a local reporter, ringing for a short interview after one of the slow left-armer’s frequent match winning efforts for Kent, was told to call back in an hour when he would have finished his lunch. Calling back, the reporter was told to ring back in a further hour as Patel was still eating!

Patel, now rather greying of temple, admitted that physically he probably was no longer up to the stresses and travails of the county game. “It has been an honour to represent Kent for the best part of 20 years,” he said. “While I feel mentally capable of carrying on, the body has said that 'enough is enough'.

“I would like to thank the whole of the organisation for their support. I wish Rob Key and his team continued success on the field and hope they build on a terrific 2007, and to Graham Johnson and his team on their goal of taking Kent to new heights off the field.”

Patel, who played 208 First Class games for Kent, claiming 630 wickets and scoring 6945 runs, told BBC Radio Kent that he felt Kent could enjoy a superb 2008. “We’ve got a phenomenal middle unit now,” he said.

“The signings they've made in the off season, Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood, will add some credible depth to an already strong one-day unit.”

He added: “Hopefully the top order boys can lay the foundations and we’ll see some fireworks from the middle order.

“Last year was phenomenal. Every year against the odds we maintain our Division One status in the Championship which is an awesome achievement, considering the Test grounds we're up against and the budgets we're playing with.”

Patel will be hoping his future is as bright as Kent’s appears: the 37-year-old is tentatively planning to follow Shane Warne into the world of professional poker.

Min bashes Bradman XI

2008-02-12T03:56:00.000-08:00

That's right: Min Patel, Kent's ageing tweaker, has led a team to glory Down Under. That's according to this rather skimpy report in the Southern Highland News. Min's side - composed of county players - romped to a 142-run win.

Not all Kent players are enjoying such a profitable winter. Joe Denly managed 32 in the England Lions first innings against West Zone in India's Duleep Trophy, which followed a pair of first-inninngs ducks in his previous two matches. James Tredwell, meanwhile, could be forgiven for wondering what exactly he is doing in New Zealand as England stumble from one-day disaster to one-day disaster.

Elsewhere, things are more encouraging. James Goodman has impressed for the England U-19s in Sri Lanka.

Kolpak Kemp's Kent, er, move

2008-02-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Justin Kemp, the 'explosive' South African batsman, has joined Kent on a two-year Kolpak contract. Another South African for Kent, eh? I expect I'm not the only supporter to have mixed feelings.

Kemp has immediately rocked the boat, though, with a string of controversial statements, delivered staccato-style. "I am really looking forward to playing for Kent again," he blasted.

"Rob Key and Graham Ford have built a really strong squad. The plans for the ground at Canterbury are very far-sighted. These are exciting times and I am keen to make a real contribution to the success of the Club over the next two years."

County cricket: filthy lucre

2008-01-28T10:29:00.001-08:00

Here's an interesting graph from The Times, detailing each county's annual income. Kent finish at the bottom of division one, which puts their record of never having been in the second division of the championship into perspective. It also demonstrates how Kent need to find new sources of income: the ground at Beckenham was obviously driven by this imperative, as is the imminent re-developement of the St Lawrence Ground. Attractive as Kent's home ground undoubtedly is, you can't help feeling that the club suffers from having its base in the east of the county, away from where most people in Kent actually live.

Rubbish anecdotes about Kent players, part one

2008-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

In the absense of much cricket news, I'd thought I'd share a wonderful vignette that occurred at a Kent cricket press day a few years back:

Current captain Robert Key was perusing the large buffet table that is as much a part of this annual event as Key saying something like, 'I just want to play well for Kent, if I can do that then I might put myself in the England reckoning'.

After a few seconds' thought, Key had decided what he wanted: a mini scotch egg. But no sooner had he plucked a ginger, minced-egg treat from the pile and popped it into his mouth than he was shuffle-jogging to the corner of the room to spit it out into his hand (polite young man).

This tickled one onlooker - former Kent tweaker Robert Ferley - no end. 'Why did you do that?' he asked Key.

'Because it was a scotch egg!' the appalled opener responded.

Ferley looked perplexed. 'What did you think it was?' he asked, not unreasonably.

A crestfallen Key thought for a moment, before shrugging. 'I dunno, a mushroom or something.'

Don't ever let it be said that Frank Woolley's Ghost doesn't take you right to the heart of Kent County Cricket Club.

Tredwell in England one-day squad

2008-01-04T05:08:00.000-08:00

After months of fierce lobbying on his behalf by Robert Key, James Tredwell has received full England recognition in the form of a call-up to the one-day squad.

Chairman of Selectors David Graveney said: "Tredwell has performed well for Kent in the domestic one-day game and continued to impress in India with the Performance Squad. This is an excellent opportunity for him to show that he can step up to the next level."

Joe Denly goes to India with the England Lions Squad.

The Full XI

2008-01-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Here it is - Kent's greatest all-time XI:

1. Wally Hardinge
2. Brian Luckhurst
3. Colin Cowdrey
4. Frank Woolley
5. Les Ames
6. Percy Chapman
7. Alan Knott
8. Alfred Mynn
9. Arthur Fielder
10. Derek Underwood
11. Colin Blythe

Kent's Greatest XI, Part IV

2008-01-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

At last! At last I have got round to naming the final two members of Kent's greatest ever side. I can only imagine the anguish in FWG readers' homes over Xmas and New Year - both of you must have been on tenterhooks. Certainly, my mum was - and, come to think of it, the dog was a bit offish on New Years' Eve too.

Here we are then.

10. Derek Underwood As one half of the greatest ever double act featuring men called Derek and Alan, Underwood bestrode the late 60s and 1970s like a frenzied weredog, except not frenzied nor were-like. And not really canine, either. Instead he was elegant, accurate and frequently deadly (297 Test wickets attest to that) - which of course was his nickname. 'Deadly', that is, not 'frequently'. That would have been ludicrous.

11. Colin Blythe Is there a more heart-breaking tale in the history of cricket than that of Charlie Blythe, the slim, palefaced cockney genius of Kent's pre-war glory? Yes, probably. Has a better slow left-armer ever appeared with the white horse on his cap? No, probably not. Killed at Passchendaele in 1917, Blythe took exactly 100 Test wickets at much less than 20 despite suffering from what has been described as an 'artistic temperament'. We'd call it fragile genius.

Denly and Tredwell in India

2007-12-19T07:33:00.001-08:00

Joe Denly and James Tredwell are interviewed on the ECB website about the England Performance Programme tour to India this winter. Both have done well without breaking any records, and for Denly at least the focus now appears to be on forcing his way into the England side.

"If I can perform at this level, which I am sure I can, and I’m going into each game with 100 per cent belief, then it is just one step closer to getting selected for England," he said.

Kent's Greatest XI, Part Three

2007-12-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

So we're onto positions seven to nine: it's time to see what exactly a 'Kent Greatest XI' can bring to the party in terms of wicketkeeping (a lot, as it goes), fast bowling (worryingly little) and spin (also a lot). Here we are, then:

7 Alan Knott Now there are those who would have Godfrey Evans here, if only for the magnificent pair of bugger grips he developed in later life. And, as a keeper, he's almost up there with Knott - almost. Evans was reputed to only turn it on for England and his Kent performances were occasionally, so they say, rather slapdash. In addition, Knott is a better batsman (compare their Test averages) and played for Kent during the 1970s, when trophies rained on the St Lawrence Ground like, ahem, rain.

8 Alfred Mynn Before Grace, there was Mynn. Probably the most famous name of the first half of the 19th century, Mynn was an enormous figure in more ways than one: he weighed between 23 and 24 stone (always room in a Kent side for the more portly gentleman) and stood at over 6ft, when that was rather unusual. His batting record looks poor by modern standards, but he played at a time when pitches were diabolical: he was also a very decent fast, round-arm bowler. To cap it all, he was known as the 'Lion of Kent'. The fact that he played before the modern club was founded should be no barrier to his inclusion here.

9 Arthur Fielder Kent had a magnificent side during the golden age of cricket prior to the First World War - and key to their success was Arthur Fielder, who is probably the best fast bowler ever to represent the county: he took 1277 first-class wickets at an average of just over 21. Wisden says that he had the ability to make the ball break back from outside the off-stump or swing away, which is impressive.

Twenty20 Vision: The DVD

2007-12-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I've managed to get my hands on a copy of this bad-boy: the DVD of Kent's glorious trot to the Twenty20 title in Birmingham this summer. Unfortunately, I haven't actually got time to watch it yet (work, bah) but be assured that as soon as I have, there'll be a full, slightly overlong review of it right here. Now that's something to look forward to.

Kent's Greatest Ever XI, Part Two

2007-11-27T05:32:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the delay to this second installment of Kent's Greatest XI: I don't really have any excuse, except that of forgetfulness. And that, as any school teacher worth their salt will tell you, is no excuse whatsoever. Be assured that I feel suitably chastened.

Anyone, we're on to the middle order, where we find three men who played for the county at the same time - yet the span of their three careers begins well before the First World War and ends some time after the Second. Here we go, then:

4. Frank Woolley (above, right) Who else? Forget his statistics, impressive though they are: this man was the foremost entertainer and the greatest artist in English cricket for more than 30 years. C L R James, the game's greatest ever writer, wrote on Woolley's retirement in 1938: "If the game of cricket was ever put on trial for its life, its advocates would bring Grace and Bradman and Ranjitsinji and a few others as evidence on behalf of the defence. But they would bring Woolley too. And if they were clever they would play him as their strongest card. For if he could not win the sympathy of the jury, then what other cricketer could?"

5. Les Ames Kent has a great tradition of wicketkeepers, but of those who have represented England, none has a better batting average than Ames (40.56). A legendary entertainer (he won the Lawrence Trophy for fastest century in a season twice, in 1936 and 1939), Ames was manager when Kent won the title in 1970. In this team he plays purely as a batsman.

6. Percy Chapman (captain) A strange choice, you might think, looking at his batting average: just under 29 in Tests, just under 32 in all first-class cricket. But Chapman was an inspirational captain who led England in 17 Tests, of which nine were won and just two lost. Six of those victories came against Australia - indeed, England won six consecutive victories over the old enemy under his leadership. He went on to captain the Kent side of the early thirties, who never quite managed to win the title but entertained nonetheless.

Mahmood signs for Kent

2007-11-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

Azhar Mahmood has signed for Kent. Great news on the cricketing front, I suppose, although given that he won't play as an overseas player (he's married to an Englishwoman) I wonder how many Englishman there'll be in the Kent side next season.

This is a big move for me in more ways than one," Mahmood said.

"I look back on my days with Surrey with great fondness, but the opportunity to utilise my British passport and join a county such as Kent is something I'm really looking forward to."

Hopefully he can produce a bit of this for Kent.

Colin Blythe

2007-11-18T03:57:00.001-08:00

Somehow I manage to miss this when it appeared last week - great piece by Frank Keating in The Guardian about Charlie Blythe, Kent and England left-arm slow, who was killed at Passchendaele 90 years ago.

"Pictures show Blythe as a slim, palefaced fellow with a shy smile. In fact Colin was known to all Kent as Charlie. The young Mancunian urchin Neville Cardus worshipped his arts from afar and presumed Blythe a patrician public schoolboy until, one day at Old Trafford, "I followed him about and heard this gorgeous cockney, which was a shock because a boy's romanticism is always snobbish, and I learned that Kent found Blythe playing on a piece of waste ground in grimy Deptford; Kent is not all lanes and hop gardens, and Blythe came out of a slum and became the darling of Canterbury Week, with all its fashion and fine ladies.""

Kent poised to annouce 'two or three signings'

2007-11-18T03:42:00.000-08:00

Kent are almost ready to annouce the signing of two or three new players, according to a report on the Kent News website. Kent’s commercial and operations director, Jon Fordham, told Kent News that the county are in the process of negotiating deals with the new players.

He said: “We hope to have an announcement about two or three new signings in the next couple of weeks.

“We would like one top class international player for the whole year, but that is a contradiction in itself because of course during the season, they are likely to be picked by their country. Yasir Arafat had a really good season for us last season and I hope he will be back next year.”

The report also reveals that Robert Key is on standby should either of England's openers be injured during the winter. He said: “It's nice to know I’m still in the selectors’ thoughts and I will make sure I’m ready to go if any call does come.”

There's also more on the ground redevelopment and Min Patel, who has been told there's a future for him at the club if he can prove his fitness.

Fixtures released - wot no Maidstone?

2007-11-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

The fixture list came out yesterday, and what immediately struck me was the continued absence of Maidstone. I appreciate that there were problems when Kent played there last, and the club were penalised for a poor pitch, but it is a wonderful place to watch cricket (largely thanks to slopes on two sides of the ground, the lack of which can make Beckenham a frustrating place to watch a game) and it would be a terrible shame if Kent were never to play there again. As I'm sure the gents in the picture below would agree.

Excellent Kent Pictures

2007-11-16T05:10:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't visited yet, there's a Kent group on Flickr (a picture-sharing website) . There are some excellent pictures on there, including a few of our spectacularly glorious victory in the Twenty20 Cup this past season. My favourite is the one above, of three Kent fans at Maidstone in 2005.

Redevelopment plans challenged

2007-11-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

The Times reports that Kent member Ben Moorhead has challenged the club's plans for the redevelopment of the St Lawrence ground. He has asked Carl Openshaw, the Kent chairman, to provide financial details of the sale of the land.

“If you were selling your house, would you expect to exchange contracts without being informed of the price?” Moorhead said. “I hope to achieve the appropriate details, followed by a proper consideration of the matter by members at a fresh special general meeting. The resolution passed at the meeting in September is invalid and it follows that the general committee is not authorised to dispose of the club’s land.

“A court could order the restitution of the plots of land or damages and quite possibly hold the committee personally responsible,” Moorhead added. He is also concerned about losses incurred by the club and the sale of the painting of the ground in 1906 by Albert Chevallier Tayler, which raised £600,000.

“I made it clear at the members’ special meeting that, like a great number of other people, I am very much opposed to an hotel up against the boundary but my issue with the chairman and the committee has been kept very separate from my aesthetic and environmental complaint. This is a heritage site. What would Kent members say in the future if we created untold damage? So the only issue I am taking is one of corporate governance and general law and the general law that relates to Kent CCC.”

Kent's Greatest Ever XI

2007-11-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of last season, The Times website featured a series of articles picking each county’s best-ever side and selecting one of them to represent the domestic game in a match against Mars. The Kent team was picked by Mark Bristow, and caused a minor stramash of controversy in the comments section below the article. Why the discontent? Bristow decided to go only with players he had seen, saying that “while the likes of Les Ames, Tich Freeman and Frank Woolley were more prolific in terms of the record books their names are generally shrouded by the mists of time and it is so difficult to judge exactly how they might have fared in the present era.”

Kent fans were not impressed. Mark from Chislehurst wrote that without Woolley, the team had “no credibility whatsoever”, Will from London added that “any Kent all-time team without Woolley, Blythe, Ames or Freeman (let alone the greats of the early to mid 19th century) is of no real value”, and David from Botswana argued that “judging any all-time Kent team without Freeman, Wooley and Ames is a waste of time,” before adding: “you people should have found someone else to do the job.”

The final nail in the coffin of Bristow’s selection was delivered by Christopher Martin Jenkins, who picked the team to face Mars. He wrote that “some of our willing and brave Times selectors have made the task [of selecting a side] easier… I am afraid that a Kent side without Frank Woolley, to mention only one, of their immortals [is not a true greatest all-time side].”

Well it’s time to write that wrong and pick the real greatest Kent team of all-time. I have restricted myself in only one way: every player must have made his name with Kent – so no overseas players. I have also decided that it would be wrong to only pick from Kent sides since the formation of the current county club: Kent were a formidable side, at times the greatest in the country, long before that. Here goes:

1. Wally Hardinge His Test record is unimpressive, the memory of his batting lost in the mists of time. But Hardinge was a serious opener who would, according to Wisden, “have made far more than one Test appearance in any other era.” He was also an integral part of Kent’s four pre-war Championship sides. That’s good enough for me.

2. Brian Luckhurst Few men can have been as popular as Luckhurst was around the club until his death in 2005; no surprise really, given all the roles in which he had served Kent since he was taken on in the 1950s as a junior. He was a fine opener, a man who made the most of his talent and a very good player of spin.

3. Colin Cowdrey (pictured above) At the time of his death in 2000, it is doubtful that there was another ex-cricketer so long retired who still remained so much in the public eye as Cowdrey (with the exception of the exceptional Donald Bradman). As a cricketer, it was often said that he did not make the most of his talent but he still averaged better than 44 at Test level (and it would have been more had he not bravely agreed to face Lillee and Thompson in ‘75) and led Kent to the title in 1970.

That’s it for now, but numbers 4-6 will follow soon. Watch this space…

Common sense at Kent

2007-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Robert Key has been re-appointed Kent captain for the 2008 season. Sensible stuff from the club: we won a trophy last season and would have finished much higher in the championship had it not been for rain and those snivelling sneaks at Worcestershire.

Key, ever the tease, has also promised some exciting signings. Who exactly have we 'snapped up', as I believe the popular press put it? I can't be the only Kent fan hoping against hope that Dwayne Leverock (right) can be lured from his Bermudan idyll. He could really do some damage to the Harris Room buffet.

Idiotic Twenty20 Rankings

2007-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

According to the Bartercard Power Rankings (eh?) Kent are the 26th best Twenty20 team in the world. There are 12 English team above them. Most team rankings are totally worthless (who cares where England are in the Fifa World Rankings?) but this really takes the biscuit. Yes, that's right - it takes the biscuit. I'm that cheesed off. Here's a message for the boys and girls at Bartercard: Kent won the Twenty20 Cup, ergo they are the best team in England and at least, ooh, fourth best in the world. 26th! I've a good mind to write a strongly worded letter.

Van Jaarsveld suspended in South Africa

2007-10-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

Martin Van Jaarsveld has been up to no good in South Africa. He had initially been accused of headbutting an opponent, but has only been punished for verbal abuse. Fairly out of character, I'd have to say: he comes across as a rather mild-mannered sort of chap. Bizarre.

Kent blog is launched!

2007-10-30T04:36:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Frank Woolley's Ghost, a blog exclusively devoted to the goings-on at Kent County Cricket Club. Here, all being well, you'll be able to find the latest news plus special features and opinion, some of it no doubt unreasonable. I hope you'll find this site useful - or, at the very least, not too tedious - and that you'll return on a reasonably regular basis. Postings will be more regular during the season, but we'll endeavour to keep up with what's going on even during the frigid, county cricket-free winter months. Brrr.