Ollie Robinson says it felt special to be awarded his Kent county cap by director of cricket Paul Downton

Ollie Robinson says it felt special to be awarded his Kent county cap by director of cricket Paul Downton.

Robinson was handed Kent men’s cap 222 by Downton, himself a former Kent and England wicketkeeper, on Sunday.

Having come through Kent’s Academy, 23-year-old Robinson made his first-class debut in 2018.

“I have poured my heart and soul into this club since I was 10 or 11 years old so it’s 13 years of hard work paying off and it’s kind of nice to be rewarded,” said Robinson, who collected his cap at lunch on day one of Kent’s County Championship Division 1 match against fellow strugglers Gloucestershire, a game Kent won by eight wickets.

“I guess you go down in Kent history and nobody can take that away from me now. It, obviously, was a lovely moment.

“It was nice my family could be here as well. It was a really nice touch from [head coach] Matt Walker to let them know.

“It’s a very proud day for me and my family. It was a nice touch from Paul [to hand the cap over to Robinson] as an ex-keeper for Kent and England.

“He has kind of been in my shoes once before which is nice.”

Robinson follows fellow current Kent players Joe Denly, Darren Stevens, captain Sam Billings, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Alex Blake, Harry Podmore, Zak Crawley, Matt Milnes and Jack Leaning in being awarded a county cap.

He opened the batting for Kent against Gloucestershire but only scored three in the first innings and a second-innings 22 off 24 balls as he briefly returned from his T20 Blast loan at Durham for the match.

Speaking prior to his first-innings disappointment, he said: “I’m back up top which is a good opportunity for me to score some runs."

Robinson was back at Kent for the County Championship game after joining Durham on loan for the