Kent’s bowling not good enough admits head coach Matthew Walker as Essex reach 289-1 on day two in County Championship Division 1

Kent head coach Matthew Walker could not hide away from their shortcomings with the ball on a rain-affected day against Essex.

After rain delayed any play until beyond lunch on day two of the LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash at visitors, Essex moved their score to 289-1 with Tom Westley and Nick Browne both scoring unbeaten centuries at Canterbury.

Walker said: “It’s been a stop-start game so far and the weather’s got the better of us unfortunately, but we find ourselves in a not dissimilar position to last week.

“We’re behind in the game, we haven’t bowled as well as we should have done and they’ve batted pretty well on a pretty good surface.

“I thought Wes Agar was outstanding, I thought he really showed how to bowl, on that surface with good pace and good carry. He kept going and was a real threat all day, we just couldn’t back it up at the other end.

“No one else seemed to get in any rhythm or put any pressure on and it became pretty easy batting for the most part.

“It’s the same problem as at Warwickshire. We just didn’t bowl enough balls in the right areas, it’s as simple as that.

“Our length percentage was well down, we bowled both sides of the wicket again and it showed on that wicket. There’s not much margin for error and if you stray from a good area you get punished.

“The numbers tell the story really, although you don’t need the numbers, you can just watch it and you can see that we were well short.

“There were very few passages when we gained control or put pressure on. When we did we looked a bit of a threat but it just wasn’t enough.

“The bowlers are trying. There’s a lot of talk around where we want to bowl, it’s not rocket science. We try to get the ball in the right area over and over