Kent head coach Matt Walker optimistic they can challenge at the right end of County Championship Division 1 this year

Head coach Matt Walker is optimistic Kent can challenge at the right end of County Championship Division 1 this summer.

They finished fifth last season, albeit they had battled relegation for much of the campaign before they finished the season with two straight wins to add some gloss to a mixed year.

It’s now 45 years since Kent last won Division 1 - finishing as runners-up in 2004 - although they claimed the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2022 and the T20 Blast a year earlier.

Walker feels his squad is now at a stage where they can compete in the higher echelons of the table and admits squad management will be key.

He said: “The squad is another year older and another year more experienced.

“We all understand the ability in the dressing room.

"Now, it’s a case of - every match we play - we’ve got to perform. We’ve got to work as a team a bit harder.

“If we do that, I think we can challenge. This is the stage we’re at. You develop a side, develop a dressing room and a culture.

“You want to improve players and give opportunities and you hope, in the end, you have a very competitive group.

“When you do that, of course, it’s a challenge to manage that. Not everyone can play all the time but everyone understands what we’re trying to do.

“We want to be a winning side and, to do that, there’s going to be some tough decisions.

“People maybe aren’t going to play as much as they would like and they might find themselves out of the team. Sometimes, it’s through no fault of their own.

“It’s a decision on which side is going to give you the best chance to win that game of cricket.

“That’s quite tough to take sometimes when you aren’t in the side, particularly when you haven’t done anything wrong, but we will need everybody.”

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