Jimmy Adams has declared himself “very happy” with Kent’s pre-season, as well as providing an update on the arrival of overseas signing Tom Latham.

Former West Indian captain Adams, 48, is about to enter his fifth year as Head Coach at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, and is pleased with the way the new campaign’s preparations have gone for his side.

“With not being able to go away, you’re always hoping that you don’t lose time to bad weather”, he said.

“Fortunately, while it’s been a bit chilly, we’ve been able to get outside pretty much every day of pre-season, so we’ve managed to get done everything we wanted done, and in some cases a little bit more,” Adams explained at the club’s annual press day earlier this week.

There has been a concerted effort to play more matches in this pre-season, with Kent taking on Essex, Hampshire and Durham in a variety of games, prior to the First Class fixture against Loughborough MCCU, which started earlier today.

“The main issue for us was just getting more competitive days cricket in pre-season”, said Adams.

“We thought that for the demographics of the squad – where they are in terms of age and experience – they would have done better with more competitive days cricket. I know in the past we’ve had a slightly older squad, where sometimes that might not be necessary because of the experience that they have, but looking at the age group of the a large number of the squad, we reckoned that it would be time to go for more days of practice matches than netting, and it’s worked out well.”

Adams also explained more about New Zealander Tom Latham’s imminent arrival in Canterbury, saying that he was expecting the 24-year-old to join up with the county “in the next week to 10 days”.

Kent are still yet to make a decision on whether Latham will keep wicket during his time with the club. The opening batsman, set to be available to Kent for the entire 2016 season, has featured behind the stumps at other times in his career, and with regular wicket-keeper Sam Billings missing the start of the season due to his stint in the IPL with the Delhi Daredevils, the option of Latham stepping in as acting glove-man is one that has yet to be decided.

Regular keeper Adam Rouse was also signed over the off-season, and is featuring in the position for the club in Billings’ absence at present.

“That is something that we have to assess when he gets here”, Adams said of Latham potentially keeping wicket for the club.

“He’s coming an ankle operation and has been batting for a week and a half. In terms of keeping wicket, we’re going to reserve judgement until he gets here.

“I’m not saying he will or he won’t, but even having that as an option is something that has to be assessed only when he comes here and we know what he can do on the ankle and what he can’t do. I haven’t ruled it out, but it’s an option that we have.”