A poor pre-season, no overseas signing and looking light… But absolutely BUZZING for the new County Championship season.

I’m really excited for the start of the county cricket season. Beyond excited, in fact. I get more up for it than I do the football season, I can’t lie.

Away from the intensity of international cricket, the money in white ball cricket, the talk around the future of the game, sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and watch your county play some good old fashioned red ball stuff.

But I’m also a bit apprehensive. It’s not been the best summer for Kent off the field.

The departures of Darren Stevens and Ollie Robinson are still raw. Those two guys were Kent through and through and have been part of our spine the last few years. Just like that, it’s over.

Add on top of that the exits of Matt Milnes and Harry Podmore and it almost feels as if the soul has been ripped out. That’s probably a bit dramatic, but these players have been mainstays in our side for years, and that’s now gone.

I understand that things change, and cricket is no different. Clubs move on. People move on. If the hierarchy think it’s for the best, fine. It’s just a shame it’s happened.

In terms of recruitment, things have been slow. It was great to see Harry Finch get his deal – he’s deserved that – but apart from that there’s not been too much to shout about.

Michael Hogan will be a good addition, sure. But I’m not sure how long for. He’s 42 and was going to retire. Wasn’t the whole reason we didn’t keep Stevo on because we knew it had to come to an end at some point?

I waited an age for Joel Paris to be declared by the club, but the announcement never came. Instead, I found out that he’s injured so isn’t coming, and we’ve seemingly been trying to plug the gap with a 33-year-old free agent in Ryan Sidebottom. No offence to the guy, but he’s just been released by Warwickshire after struggling for games and averages over 31 with the ball. It’s just not really good enough, sadly.

George Linde is still on paternity leave and Arshdeep Singh isn’t coming until later on in the season. So we start the campaign with no overseas players.

We were told we were pushing for an overseas to play before Singh arrived but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I’m not sure why. Essex signed Doug Bracewell just a few days after Will Sutherland got injured and Northamptonshire signed Chris Tremain recently too. I know we aren’t the richest club, but come on.

Our batting is strong. We should be able to rely on that. We have several players jostling for position, a few current and former England internationals and franchise stars too. Whoever managed to get them all in the XI happily has done a very good job, because I can’t work out for sure what I’d ideally have done at this point, even if the management have.

Joey Evison I think will be vital. We knew he was joining permanently last year and that absolutely has been a shrewd piece of business. I’m not sure he would’ve started the season if Linde had been available, but we’ve been told he will, and he’s a proper talent.

The likes of Grant Stewart and Matt Quinn are fine but there’s nothing to set the world alight there. I fear we may be relying heavily on an ever-improving Nathan Gilchrist, and I shudder every time I think about the start of last season when we were conceding near 500 every game. I pray that doesn’t happen again. Gilchrist appears to be injured to start the season, which is a problem. When it rains, etc.

We’ve not gone with a spinner to start, which isn’t the worst idea. I’m not sure any of them are fantastic, but it’s not easy to bowl spin in Canterbury, especially early season.

I think it’s really important we get off to a good start and beat Northamptonshire. If we’re to be in a battle to secure our status in Division One – which surely has to be the first aim – they will be a direct rival. A home game against them to start is bigger than I think many realise.

A lack of pre-season game time may impact things, but not a lot can be done. The weather may impact things, but not a lot can be done about that either.

The pre-season games that have been played suggest most sides are going to adapt England’s new fearless approach. Cricket is changing, and we’ll see more of that this year.

I don’t know, maybe this column is too negative. I just feel like there was more that could have – or should have – been done recruitment wise and in terms of keeping some players that have gone. Time will tell.

There are some strong squads in the Division this year. Some seriously strong squads. Ours isn’t one of the best. But we have the team spirit and there’s something about Kent – there always is – so let’s hope for a good year. Strap in.

Kent team to play Northamptonshire: Crawley, Compton, Bell-Drummond, Denly, Leaning, Cox, Billings, Evison, Stewart, Quinn, Hogan.