Jimmy Adams will spend the next few days mulling over which changes need to be made to the Kent side ahead of Essex’s visit to Canterbury.

The two wicket loss to Derbyshire in the latest County Championship game on Sunday afternoon was Kent’s first defeat this season in the longer form of the game and leaves them now 31 points behind the league leaders.

With just five County Championship games left to play, Kent will be looking to get their season back on track with a win starting against Essex during Canterbury Week.

For Adams, he has a selection dilemma with both Matt Coles and James Tredwell off on duty with the England Lions for the next few weeks, whilst some players are struggling for form.

Putting the disappointment of the defeat to Derbyshire behind him, Adams will look to the positives taken from the defeat as he sits down to decide who will take to the field on Wednesday:

“It was disappointing after having set up what we thought was a very good position going into the last innings with a lead of nearly three hundred.”

“To miss out by a couple of wickets was disappointing, but you have to take your points and move on.”

“There were some excellent performances in the game and the way the captain batted in the second innings for his eighty in trying conditions was good to see and I was pleased he was back amongst the runs as he is very influential.”

“We will look back at all the areas where we could have done better as we have got some important games coming up.”

“There have been occasions when we have had to go beyond our core group, but the response every time has been very, very positive. People have been prepared for the call and I am sure that will still be the case.”

One player that has struggled for form in recent weeks is Ben Harmison, but Adams wouldn’t be drawn on as to whether he would be rested or whether he would consider a change of batting order for the week ahead:

“When it comes to selection issues, I am a day before man. What I will say, is that we will select the best team on the day to get that result, but that decision will come after Tuesday’s training session.”

Despite the defeat to Derbyshire, Adams is hoping that his side can put their first loss of the season behind them quickly and move forward, but he knows Essex will prove a stern test this week:

“I don’t take defeat too easily, but we will take what we need from it and move on. My philosophy is that your long term success comes from the ability to take hold of games at key moments and maybe we have missed those key moments in the last couple of games, but we are a work in progress and we will keep working towards the point where we can hang on during these key moments.”

“The Essex game will be a huge challenge, but hopefully we can play some good cricket and get the result we all want.”

Canterbury Week sees the start of a busy period of cricket for Kent with Derbyshire coming to the St Lawrence Ground on Sunday for the latest CB40 game, followed by a trip to play Warwickshire at Edgbaston just 24 hours later in the same competition in front of the Sky cameras.

The side will then travel straight to Bristol for the start of the Championship game against Gloucestershire beginning next Wednesday and for Adams, the next couple of weeks could be crucial for his sides’ success:

“It’s going to be a busy ten days, there’s no two ways around it. We will have the two CB40 games and then we will have a quick turn around to be down at Bristol for more four day cricket.”

“There is a lot happening and the whole issue has to be managed with the players that we have and it’s going to be interesting.”

“I don’t think there are going to be that many rest days between now and the end of the season, but that’s the nature of the game and everyone is in the same position.”