Ahead of his third season at the Spitfire Ground, KSN has been talking to Kent opener Ben Compton about his and the team’s hopes for 2024. 

“My third season at Canterbury and I think there’s a different level of optimism around the place,” Compton admitted to us when we spoke to him.

“In hindsight we had a tough year last year. There is a lot that went on in the Club – lot of injuries, changes of roles, the captaincy – and it all filtered down.”

“This year I think we are more settled, and I feel like everyone is clearer on where things stand. We have some fresh faces – Matt Parkinson notably, young Michael Cohen, both exciting prospects and we are more optimistic.”

“I do not think it is unreasonable for me to sit here and say that we had a tough year last year and I think that once you come through that, you’ve “seen the light” at the end of the tunnel so we are certainly more optimistic.” 

Talking about the appointment of Daniel Bell-Drummond as skipper, Compton told us, “I am thrilled! He is hugely respected character in the dressing room – a calm, collective, intelligent – so I am really excited to see how he can impact the side.” 

“He is very calm to bat with. He is very chilled, almost laid back – he is so driven and focused, he really has a wonderful calming presence about him.”

“He has played a lot of cricket, so I think he knows how to get the best out of himself, and I enjoy batting with him.”

“When he is on-song, he’s incredibly hard to bowl to as he hits the ball in different places from relatively same deliveries, and last year he had a phenomenal middle to back end of the summer – I’m really excited to see how he fits into the captaincy role and everyone will be right behind him, myself included!” 

With Zak Crawley being available more for the County at the start at least of the season, there have been questions where Compton could feature at the top of the order, but the man himself admitted, “I am happy to play anywhere if I am honest!”

“I think Zak and I had the best opening partnership in County cricket last year and I really like batting with him – we complement each other well as we score in different areas.”

“We have had a lot of good partnerships for Kent and so it will be interesting to see how that unfolds in the coming weeks.” 

Kent have struggled to take twenty wickets in Championship matches in the past few seasons – a point not lost on Compton.

“The wickets we have had recently especially here at Canterbury, I think have been good for batting and I think that Matt Parkinson’s record speaks for itself and he’s a very good bowler and a massive boost for us.”

“He is an attacking spinner who is going to take wickets and so I think it is a wonderful addition to the side – to balance it really – and I think we are shaping up as a strong side.” 

“Wes Agar really gelled in straight away and it is great to have him back this year – a typical buzzy, optimistic Australian – he really fits in really well and we will all get to know him even better second time around.”

“We saw what he can do with the ball, and he will be a really good addition to open the bowling. I think that him opening the bowling with Parky, Nathan Gilchrist, Matt Quinn, Grant Stewart; I think we have depth now and that is something we lacked last year as if there were injuries, we were coming up short and hopefully we have rectified that this year.” 

“I think we are shaping up OK; we are all excited – it’s normal this time of year as everyone is fresh and keen to get going. We are not looking too far ahead; we have got this first block of seven games, but within that you just want to do one at a time and do really well!”

“If you start thinking about what’s two or three weeks ahead, you are taking your eye off the ball, so we must make sure that we are absolutely on it from the start and ball one against Somerset.”