Kent return to Canterbury this week to face Essex in the County Championship after so nearly escaping with an unlikely draw last week after a frustrating weekend against Warwickshire with coach Matt Walker keen for his side to bounce back.

But when KSN caught up with coach Matt Walker earlier this week, he admitted, “I think the right phrase to use is that we nearly got away with it! But being honest, we probably didn’t deserve it over the course of the four days to “get away with it” – we were outplayed really over the course of the four days.”

“They played their best cricket and probably it was a fair result.”

“But we did show fight, courage and application to really scrap hard on the last afternoon. We made it very hard for ourselves and in the end, there was too much left to do.”

“We were fighting to save the game after day one and you’re unlikely to win a game of cricket from that position – we didn’t get it right on the first day with the ball and we got punished on a pretty good wicket.”

“They then showed us how to bowl on it with their elite bowling attack – one of the best bowlers in the country in Chris Woakes, international bowler in Hassan Ali, and three very experienced county players who have been doing a brilliant job for many years.”

“Unfortunately, first innings we didn’t put up much of resistance and then you’re behind the game in a big way.”

“I suppose the positive focus is that we did nearly get away with it showing a lot of hard work with three very good performances – Ben Compton was again another exhibition of brilliant batsmanship as he went about his business as he has since he first joined us.”

“It was a real test for him in those conditions and against a very good attack he showed great quality again. He’s going from strength to strength, and you’ve got to be full of admiration as to what he’s doing week to week.”

“He’s already showed skill and concentration levels as he did last year – a very simple technique, very simple outlook on how to go about scoring his runs and he’s getting the success for it and I thought deserved a hundred as once again he was the lone batsman at the top of the order that actually managed to get something together and played brilliantly.”

“His value to the team is enormous – this year was always going to be a tricky year in some ways for him as he’s got to go and do it again as there’s massive expectation on him and he’s started exactly as he finished last season.”

“When we consider that Joey Evison came in at nine in the end as the nightwatchman put him down a place, it was a brilliant innings – playing in a positive style whilst still trying to see the game out.”

“He played beautifully and it was a real shame that he didn’t get his first Championship hundred for us which he really deserved.”

“He played with a calmness as a young man and his composure and decision making was a joy to see. We know what he can do which is why we signed him and then he goes and does it, it will surely fill him with a huge amount of confidence.”

“In the end it was a huge shame that a couple of moments cost us – in the end we did show some fighting spirit that we can walk away with a bit of credit for.”

Looking ahead to the side’s return to Canterbury this week, Walker conceded that: “at least we’re going to have some options back now and that’s really good news.”

“The arrival of Wes Agar is a real boost – he’s looked in a really good place in the nets this week. He had a really good bowl Tuesday and with Nathan Gilchrist coming through a bit of second team cricket, he looks in a good place too and that gives us a couple of options up our sleeve.”

“Grant Stewart has come back nicely and looks like he’ll be available and that makes such a difference from having bleak horizons. It’s nice to be in that position going into an important game.”

Picture supplied by Max Flego Photography.