Kent head coach Matt Walker has admitted his side’s performance over the first three days of their County Championship match against Yorkshire gave them a near-impossible task on day four.

The Spitfires were left needing to score 412 runs on the final day for an unlikely victory or bat out a minimum of 96 overs with just seven wickets in hand to salvage a draw. As it went, last man Miguel Cummins was dismissed minutes before 17:00 BST with just fewer than 20 overs remaining in the day and Yorkshire ran out the winners by a massive 200 runs.

“It was not lost today” said Walker, speaking at the end of day four. “We let ourselves down in the early part of the match and good sides like Yorkshire often do not let you back in.

“We were behind from the first hour of the game. We bowled pretty poorly in the first session, a bit better in the middle session and then sloppier in the third. We were always behind unfortunately – we never really got going first innings with the bat either. 

“All you ask for the group is to fight hard and they did, no one gave up, and it could have been over a lot quicker if it was not for Milnes (78), Robinson (28) and Stevens (47).”

Kent gave themselves a sniff of a draw when they only lost one wicket in the afternoon session to leave themselves with three wickets in hand going into the evening’s play, but the new ball did the trick for Yorkshire as England bowler David Willey wrapped up the tail to secure his side the win.

“What was good was the fight and concentration to try and salvage something out the game” said Walker.

“It is always a fine balance in terms of mental approach on days like this. You cannot just sit there and defend for your lives because you go into your shell and miss out on scoring and end up poking at one and not committing in shots you need to play. 

“It was a balance of trying to be positive, occupying the crease for an extended period of time and trying to build partnerships. We nearly got there, but after and prior to Robbo and Milnesy it was not the innings we needed. You need someone from your top three or four to go on and get a big hundred. We ran out of time and wickets.”

Walker spoke of the irritation at getting so close to securing a draw, but admitted his side didn’t deserve anything from the game.

He said: “When you get that close it is always frustrating you cannot see it out, but I think it is a fair result. We were not good enough this week and we deserved to lose. 

“They bowled a lot better than us. If you bowled tight areas for long periods of time you could have some success. Jordan Thompson bowled particularly well today, and it was there, but we did not do it and they did. 

“When you are leaky there are balls that release pressure and they stopped us scoring and created opportunities for wickets. We had players that got in but did not score a big hundred and that is what you need. Lessons will be learnt and people that get in need to go on and make it count.”

Kent will have the chance to put things right when they host Lancashire in the next round of County Championship games, starting on Thursday.

Picture supplied by Max Flego Photography.