Kent’s county championship title challenge could be defined on the road over the next fortnight as they prepare to take on Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire away from their Canterbury headquarters.
Sam Northeast’s second-placed side clash with third-placed Worcestershire at New Road from Monday, before heading a little further north for their trial day/night game with Nottinghamshire, starting at Trent Bridge on Monday, June 26.
The squad then head back to metropolitan Kent to take on a fast improving Northamptonshire outfit at Beckenham from Monday, July 3.
Looking forward to the challenge Matthew Walker, the head coach, said: “We’re getting toward the nitty gritty stage of the season and really need to keep focused on each ball, each session and each day.
“We were never really at our best in the game against Durham but we manufactured a draw by showing that last day fighting spirit with the bat. That was a feather in our caps in a different way.
“We go to Worcester unbeaten, but it’s another game against another good side. When you start to play the sides around you in the table the results become a little more important for sure.
“They have top players and you never quite know what you’ll come across in terms of the surface at New Road, but nothing will change in terms of our mentality going into the match. We’ll prepare well, work hard and hope to play much better than we did last time out.
“We’ve played good cricket overall this season, so we won’t dwell on the Durham performance. It’s good that Yasir Shah has now settled in and has a game under his belt and that Sam continued his good batting form. The quality is there, we know that.”
Walker ruled out the possibility of taking both Kent’s overseas players to New Road and choosing between the two after seeing the pitch because New Zealand all-rounder Adam Milne picked up an ankle strain during the Black Caps Champions Trophy campaign.
“Yasir will play at New Road as Adam won’t be ready for a couple of weeks,” said Walker. “We’d planned for New Zealand to go all the way, so Adam will take chance to rest for now but, for Trent Bridge and Beckenham, there will be an opportunity to take both and leave our selection until the morning of the match.
“Certainly, Adam will come into our thinking for the game under lights where no one really knows what will happen with the pink ball and in that period of twilight when the dew starts to come down. You’d think pacey seam-bowling would be quite testing in those circumstances.”
Mitch Claydon, Kent’s unlikely batting hero from the dramatic draw with Durham last time out, is looking forward to the trip to Worcestershire. He said: “You look at the Worcester game and it’s massive, but then you think about Nottinghamshire away and Northamptonshire at Beckenham, so nothing’s easy from here on.
“Northants have started to pick up results of late, so whoever we come up against between now and the end of the season these sides will want to win. Whether that means silly declarations and chuck-ups if there’s a bit of rain around, I don’t know, but they are three massive games.
“We were brilliant at New Road last year because we didn’t bowl a ball for all four days. I’ve won there with Durham in the past, but Worcestershire have had a couple of losses lately and will have a point to prove. I just hope it’s nice and dry there for once and Yasir Shah comes into play for us.”