Walker has said two things - Billings is having some time away "to process things" prior to The Hundred and that he wouldn't rule him out of being back in the CC afterwards.
About the 50 over comp he says that the call ups to The Hundred will leave us stretched and will give us an opportunity to develop some of the youngsters but that, as defending champions, we might dip into the loan market
Walker has said two things - Billings is having some time away "to process things" prior to The Hundred and that he wouldn't rule him out of being back in the CC afterwards.
About the 50 over comp he says that the call ups to The Hundred will leave us stretched and will give us an opportunity to develop some of the youngsters but that, as defending champions, we might dip into the loan market
Most sides will be stretched for the 50 over competition, when you consider it's competing against both the 100 and the ML cricket in the states which is an alternative lure for overseas players who might have played in the 100.
I'm not convinced that the 50 over comp will be that much better than the Kent Premier League - a couple of weeks ago Compton was out shouldering arms for a duck playing for Sevenoaks Vine and last weekend Leaning scored 19 off 42 balls for St Lawrence & HC and got out to someone who hadn't bowled, apart from once in a T20, for seven years and had a grand total of 26 overs in a 17 year career - and am sure that a couple of players who have been playing Kent 2s, as mentioned above, could be used to supplement the squad.
I was debating yesterday with a couple of other Kent supporters whether our current County Championship squad is the worst in our living experience. Between the three of us, we could not recall one as poor as this in the last 50 or so years. When we agreed that we were, of course, saying that some are just not performing in the way that they used to and the likes of Denly and Billings etc were at one time important members of better squads. Admittedly, our respective benchmark were the teams containing Luckhurst, Denness, Cowdrey (Colin), Johnson, Woolmer, Asif Iqbal, Shepherd, Ealham (Alan), Julien, Underwood, Knott, Graham, Jarvis etc etc and not many squads since then has matched that lot.
Are we being unkind because the same could be argued for most counties and this is a reflection of the lower standard of cricket generally in the sense that we do not see the quality of internationals coming over that we used to (for a whole season too) and even the England players are protected by their central contracts? There again, central contracts have been around for over 20 years and it is still difficult to recall, in that time, one that was as weak as this one with both bat and ball.
@Leuth What is happening at Worcestershire? As bad as it is at Kent, following the departures of Josh Tongue and Dillon Pennington, I see that Pat Brown has now left on a 3-year contract to Derbyshire of all counties albeit that it seems Mickey Arthur has promised him a place in red ball cricket. Moeen Ali and Ed Barnard left at the end of last season and rumours are that Jack Haynes and Ben Cox are going too. Cox might not be much of a loss but Haynes looks to be a promising youngster.
@Leuth What is happening at Worcestershire? As bad as it is at Kent, following the departures of Josh Tongue and Dillon Pennington, I see that Pat Brown has now left on a 3-year contract to Derbyshire of all counties albeit that it seems Mickey Arthur has promised him a place in red ball cricket. Moeen Ali and Ed Barnard left at the end of last season and rumours are that Jack Haynes and Ben Cox are going too. Cox might not be much of a loss but Haynes looks to be a promising youngster.
I barely care any more tbh, demotion to the minor counties would be a mercy killing at this point
@Leuth What is happening at Worcestershire? As bad as it is at Kent, following the departures of Josh Tongue and Dillon Pennington, I see that Pat Brown has now left on a 3-year contract to Derbyshire of all counties albeit that it seems Mickey Arthur has promised him a place in red ball cricket. Moeen Ali and Ed Barnard left at the end of last season and rumours are that Jack Haynes and Ben Cox are going too. Cox might not be much of a loss but Haynes looks to be a promising youngster.
I barely care any more tbh, demotion to the minor counties would be a mercy killing at this point
The issue is that this is what the ECB want - squeeze the lesser counties out of existence and I include Kent in those numbers
I was debating yesterday with a couple of other Kent supporters whether our current County Championship squad is the worst in our living experience. Between the three of us, we could not recall one as poor as this in the last 50 or so years. When we agreed that we were, of course, saying that some are just not performing in the way that they used to and the likes of Denly and Billings etc were at one time important members of better squads. Admittedly, our respective benchmark were the teams containing Luckhurst, Denness, Cowdrey (Colin), Johnson, Woolmer, Asif Iqbal, Shepherd, Ealham (Alan), Julien, Underwood, Knott, Graham, Jarvis etc etc and not many squads since then has matched that lot.
Are we being unkind because the same could be argued for most counties and this is a reflection of the lower standard of cricket generally in the sense that we do not see the quality of internationals coming over that we used to (for a whole season too) and even the England players are protected by their central contracts? There again, central contracts have been around for over 20 years and it is still difficult to recall, in that time, one that was as weak as this one with both bat and ball.
Interesting debate.
This current squad is certainly under performing for sure.
However in the 80s and 90s we had some poor under performing squads too once the 'greats' you mention retired or left. In the pre promotion relegation days (and pre Durham too) we finished 16th or 17th I remember in the County Championship.
I was debating yesterday with a couple of other Kent supporters whether our current County Championship squad is the worst in our living experience. Between the three of us, we could not recall one as poor as this in the last 50 or so years. When we agreed that we were, of course, saying that some are just not performing in the way that they used to and the likes of Denly and Billings etc were at one time important members of better squads. Admittedly, our respective benchmark were the teams containing Luckhurst, Denness, Cowdrey (Colin), Johnson, Woolmer, Asif Iqbal, Shepherd, Ealham (Alan), Julien, Underwood, Knott, Graham, Jarvis etc etc and not many squads since then has matched that lot.
Are we being unkind because the same could be argued for most counties and this is a reflection of the lower standard of cricket generally in the sense that we do not see the quality of internationals coming over that we used to (for a whole season too) and even the England players are protected by their central contracts? There again, central contracts have been around for over 20 years and it is still difficult to recall, in that time, one that was as weak as this one with both bat and ball.
Interesting debate.
This current squad is certainly under performing for sure.
However in the 80s and 90s we had some poor under performing squads too once the 'greats' you mention retired or left. In the pre promotion relegation days (and pre Durham too) we finished 16th or 17th I remember in the County Championship.
I can't argue with that. In fact, we finished bottom of the CC in 1995. However, that was somewhat offset by the fact that we won the then 40 over competition and finished runners up in the B & H.
What prompted this debate was that I found a cutting of our averages from 1992 and I was somewhat astonished to see that we had five players who averaged between 45 and 55 and all scoring 1,500 runs plus - from memory they were Taylor, Benson, Ward, Cowdrey (G) and Hooper. We don't have that now (and nor do a lot of counties) which is why I suggested that this is probably a county wide issue. I suppose that the best evidence of that is the lack of batsmen that are banging the England selection door down with their performances in the CC. Our own opener has been picked based on what he might produce rather than what he has in the CC. Equally, who are our bowlers that are capable of running through a side? Agar, with 21 wickets leads the way, but the next best has 14 - with just 5 matches left of the season.
Kent 2s have Will Naish and Max "Bomber" Harris playing for them in the 4 day game against Middlesex starting today. They are being released by their respective counties, Gloucestershire and ironically for Harris, Middlesex, respectively at the end of the season. In addition, George Garrett plays his second game for the 2s, having it appears left Warwickshire. He returned figures of 24-1-113-1 in his previous match.
Worth noting that the T20 final was between Essex and Somerset, who are currently 2nd and 5th in the CC. What are they doing right, that we're not, e.g. Essex bringing through 2 bowlers in Cook and Porter?
Worth noting that the T20 final was between Essex and Somerset, who are currently 2nd and 5th in the CC. What are they doing right, that we're not, e.g. Essex bringing through 2 bowlers in Cook and Porter?
Neither Cook nor Porter went to private schools. I suspect Essex look beyond the circle traditionally used by the likes of Kent, Somerset, Surrey and and Sussex in particular (17 out of 17 of their non imported squad were privately educated). Surrey, Somerset and Sussex, have a number of massive private schools that provide a lot of their players. Kent do not have the same number and are also the poor relations to Surrey when it comes to boys who live in the Beckenham and Bromley areas and end up going to the likes of Trinity and Whitgift - both schools are in Croydon.
Jas Singh is the only first team player under 30 who played age group cricket and who wasn't privately educated but it took Kent 'til he was 16 to give him an opportunity of any sort. If it weren't for the fact that he was at a good club and had the support of his father he probably would have been lost to the game. Previously Kent went through a period of just picking young bowlers who could bowl line and length but about four or five years ago Downton sent out a message to the coaches that anyone who could bowl quick needed to be looked at no matter how much they sprayed it. That coincided with Jas getting his opportunity. At present, there is one bowler that I have mentioned previously, Barney Ford (17) who has the physique and ability to possibly make it but there is no other quick of that age (or older) who has been through the Kent system that looks like doing so.
The reason Kent have produced, by contrast, so many very good wicket keeper batsmen is down to Ray Willis and his son, Simon. Ray used to be the Kent U14 age group coach but also coached all the up and coming keepers and that included Billings. Robinson and Cox. Simon was a player at Kent and became Head of the Academy. He, too, was a keeper. So Kent had some very good centres of influence so far as keeping is concerned and these weren't "here today/gone tomorrow" coaches so they were able to monitor a player's progress from 11 to 18. Kent will also bowling coaches but is there the same continuity? Ray has now all but retired and Simon is now the Hong Kong coach but they have appointed a specialist keeping coach in the last year.
So I would say, in answer to your question, that the reason we haven't produced a fast bowler of any note in the last decade is down to the limited pool we are fishing in and the fact that we do not have the resource to scout, entice and keep any that do fit the bill. Things have improved with the District system but it is still down to Kent to back any recommended players.
Worth noting that the T20 final was between Essex and Somerset, who are currently 2nd and 5th in the CC. What are they doing right, that we're not, e.g. Essex bringing through 2 bowlers in Cook and Porter?
Neither Cook nor Porter went to private schools. I suspect Essex look beyond the circle traditionally used by the likes of Kent, Somerset, Surrey and and Sussex in particular (17 out of 17 of their non imported squad were privately educated). Surrey, Somerset and Sussex, have a number of massive private schools that provide a lot of their players. Kent do not have the same number and are also the poor relations to Surrey when it comes to boys who live in the Beckenham and Bromley areas and end up going to the likes of Trinity and Whitgift - both schools are in Croydon.
Jas Singh is the only first team player under 30 who played age group cricket and who wasn't privately educated but it took Kent 'til he was 16 to give him an opportunity of any sort. If it weren't for the fact that he was at a good club and had the support of his father he probably would have been lost to the game. Previously Kent went through a period of just picking young bowlers who could bowl line and length but about four or five years ago Downton sent out a message to the coaches that anyone who could bowl quick needed to be looked at no matter how much they sprayed it. That coincided with Jas getting his opportunity. At present, there is one bowler that I have mentioned previously, Barney Ford (17) who has the physique and ability to possibly make it but there is no other quick of that age (or older) who has been through the Kent system that looks like doing so.
The reason Kent have produced, by contrast, so many very good wicket keeper batsmen is down to Ray Willis and his son, Simon. Ray used to be the Kent U14 age group coach but also coached all the up and coming keepers and that included Billings. Robinson and Cox. Simon was a player at Kent and became Head of the Academy. He, too, was a keeper. So Kent had some very good centres of influence so far as keeping is concerned and these weren't "here today/gone tomorrow" coaches so they were able to monitor a player's progress from 11 to 18. Kent will also bowling coaches but is there the same continuity? Ray has now all but retired and Simon is now the Hong Kong coach but they have appointed a specialist keeping coach in the last year.
So I would say, in answer to your question, that the reason we haven't produced a fast bowler of any note in the last decade is down to the limited pool we are fishing in and the fact that we do not have the resource to scout, entice and keep any that do fit the bill. Things have improved with the District system but it is still down to Kent to back any recommended players.
Barney Ford is a real talent; he's huge for his age (6'5"?) and is quite quick. Left-armer too. The only other young quick around that I know of is Max Luckett, but he's had injury issues and not done as well as hoped since leaving Bickley Park...
Worth noting that the T20 final was between Essex and Somerset, who are currently 2nd and 5th in the CC. What are they doing right, that we're not, e.g. Essex bringing through 2 bowlers in Cook and Porter?
Neither Cook nor Porter went to private schools. I suspect Essex look beyond the circle traditionally used by the likes of Kent, Somerset, Surrey and and Sussex in particular (17 out of 17 of their non imported squad were privately educated). Surrey, Somerset and Sussex, have a number of massive private schools that provide a lot of their players. Kent do not have the same number and are also the poor relations to Surrey when it comes to boys who live in the Beckenham and Bromley areas and end up going to the likes of Trinity and Whitgift - both schools are in Croydon.
Jas Singh is the only first team player under 30 who played age group cricket and who wasn't privately educated but it took Kent 'til he was 16 to give him an opportunity of any sort. If it weren't for the fact that he was at a good club and had the support of his father he probably would have been lost to the game. Previously Kent went through a period of just picking young bowlers who could bowl line and length but about four or five years ago Downton sent out a message to the coaches that anyone who could bowl quick needed to be looked at no matter how much they sprayed it. That coincided with Jas getting his opportunity. At present, there is one bowler that I have mentioned previously, Barney Ford (17) who has the physique and ability to possibly make it but there is no other quick of that age (or older) who has been through the Kent system that looks like doing so.
The reason Kent have produced, by contrast, so many very good wicket keeper batsmen is down to Ray Willis and his son, Simon. Ray used to be the Kent U14 age group coach but also coached all the up and coming keepers and that included Billings. Robinson and Cox. Simon was a player at Kent and became Head of the Academy. He, too, was a keeper. So Kent had some very good centres of influence so far as keeping is concerned and these weren't "here today/gone tomorrow" coaches so they were able to monitor a player's progress from 11 to 18. Kent will also bowling coaches but is there the same continuity? Ray has now all but retired and Simon is now the Hong Kong coach but they have appointed a specialist keeping coach in the last year.
So I would say, in answer to your question, that the reason we haven't produced a fast bowler of any note in the last decade is down to the limited pool we are fishing in and the fact that we do not have the resource to scout, entice and keep any that do fit the bill. Things have improved with the District system but it is still down to Kent to back any recommended players.
Barney Ford is a real talent; he's huge for his age (6'5"?) and is quite quick. Left-armer too. The only other young quick around that I know of is Max Luckett, but he's had injury issues and not done as well as hoped since leaving Bickley Park...
Max has seemingly lost his way and it is questionable whether going to Minster was really the right decision. He isn't even taking the new ball at Minster and against the Vine he didn't bowl a single ball (would be surprised if he were injured given that he bowled the next day) even though as a team they bowled 41 overs. He has also only played one 2nd XI game and that was on 9th May for Leicestershire.
Comments
About the 50 over comp he says that the call ups to The Hundred will leave us stretched and will give us an opportunity to develop some of the youngsters but that, as defending champions, we might dip into the loan market
Have to say I really enjoyed his and Matt Henry's contributions to Somerset's semi final victory.
Guessing all our Surrey Lifers are at Edgbaston in numbers today ...or maybe have now rejoined the M6 homeward bound.
Well done !
Are we being unkind because the same could be argued for most counties and this is a reflection of the lower standard of cricket generally in the sense that we do not see the quality of internationals coming over that we used to (for a whole season too) and even the England players are protected by their central contracts? There again, central contracts have been around for over 20 years and it is still difficult to recall, in that time, one that was as weak as this one with both bat and ball.
This current squad is certainly under performing for sure.
However in the 80s and 90s we had some poor under performing squads too once the 'greats' you mention retired or left. In the pre promotion relegation days (and pre Durham too) we finished 16th or 17th I remember in the County Championship.
What prompted this debate was that I found a cutting of our averages from 1992 and I was somewhat astonished to see that we had five players who averaged between 45 and 55 and all scoring 1,500 runs plus - from memory they were Taylor, Benson, Ward, Cowdrey (G) and Hooper. We don't have that now (and nor do a lot of counties) which is why I suggested that this is probably a county wide issue. I suppose that the best evidence of that is the lack of batsmen that are banging the England selection door down with their performances in the CC. Our own opener has been picked based on what he might produce rather than what he has in the CC. Equally, who are our bowlers that are capable of running through a side? Agar, with 21 wickets leads the way, but the next best has 14 - with just 5 matches left of the season.
Jas Singh is the only first team player under 30 who played age group cricket and who wasn't privately educated but it took Kent 'til he was 16 to give him an opportunity of any sort. If it weren't for the fact that he was at a good club and had the support of his father he probably would have been lost to the game. Previously Kent went through a period of just picking young bowlers who could bowl line and length but about four or five years ago Downton sent out a message to the coaches that anyone who could bowl quick needed to be looked at no matter how much they sprayed it. That coincided with Jas getting his opportunity. At present, there is one bowler that I have mentioned previously, Barney Ford (17) who has the physique and ability to possibly make it but there is no other quick of that age (or older) who has been through the Kent system that looks like doing so.
The reason Kent have produced, by contrast, so many very good wicket keeper batsmen is down to Ray Willis and his son, Simon. Ray used to be the Kent U14 age group coach but also coached all the up and coming keepers and that included Billings. Robinson and Cox. Simon was a player at Kent and became Head of the Academy. He, too, was a keeper. So Kent had some very good centres of influence so far as keeping is concerned and these weren't "here today/gone tomorrow" coaches so they were able to monitor a player's progress from 11 to 18. Kent will also bowling coaches but is there the same continuity? Ray has now all but retired and Simon is now the Hong Kong coach but they have appointed a specialist keeping coach in the last year.
So I would say, in answer to your question, that the reason we haven't produced a fast bowler of any note in the last decade is down to the limited pool we are fishing in and the fact that we do not have the resource to scout, entice and keep any that do fit the bill. Things have improved with the District system but it is still down to Kent to back any recommended players.
Does anyone have a link that I can use, please ?
Hope I don't regret it !
I despair.
34-3