“To get over the line was a really important thing for us” – Kent coach Matt Walker’s words after the county beat Surrey by seventeen runs on Tuesday in their latest game in the Bob Willis Trophy.

The triumph at the Oval took Kent to within six points of leaders Essex in the South Group of the Bob Willis Trophy but in the end, the game was closer than Walker would have wanted.

“Yes, I think it was,” the Kent coach admitted. “I suppose from 150-5 in the first innings to get ourselves to 340 we’d have taken and from where we were that was very pleasing to see the scrap and fight of the guys of the lower order – there was some great performances there starting with Marcus O’Riordan, Podmore, Milnes, Stewart all played their part really well.

“It was a real fighting effort to ourselves a decent first innings score; we bowled well first innings – Foakes played beautifully and was a thorn in our side but I thought we stuck to our task pretty well…”

“And then we had a wobble!”

“I think they bowled very well – Curran and Clarke put it on us and we found ourselves in that position again where we let a pretty decent lead slip and we scrapped a 190 lead which was something that’s got to be got which was the same situation at Chelmsford. But you couldn’t help but feel that we’d thrown the game open when we could have out ourselves in a position where we couldn’t be beaten.

“I thought the effort and the attitude on the last day was just outstanding – we had to be like that. We had to fight, we had to come out all guns blazing and really throw punches at them hard.”

“We’ve got a very good bowling line-up and a good squad of bowlers and to win a game of cricket, you need it to be a collective, and I’ve said that a lot over the last couple of years. Milnes, Podmore and Stevens is a good attack with Stewart in there as well and they’re all playing their part… and they have to!

“We can’t just rely on one or two as everyone need to come to the party – someone will come away with more wickets than the others as that’s the way it is. It doesn’t always tell the whole story, but you need that collaborative effort and you need everyone to follow each other and keep doing their job.

“Podders has just got better since the Sussex first innings and he bowled really beautifully in this game. Milnesy is I think a special performer – he’s got an incredible engine who keeps coming hard; his third spell is as penetrative as his first and bowls wicket taking deliveries.

“And then of course Darren is Darren – he’s still doing it, and he’s still bowling beautifully, still creating a huge amount of problems for the opposition. It’s so good to see when it comes together like that – we really are a very dangerous attack!”

“We needed a start and get a start like we did to really give ourselves a fighting chance. We did – we got them four down for twenty which was the perfect start. Then Foakes and Evans again was a problem for us batting brilliantly, but we managed to get through it, and I just thought how hard the lads worked, how hard they fought – I thought they absolutely deserved that win.

“I suppose it was always going to be a little bit tight come the end but to get over the line was a really important thing for us to do that in a Championship game – they’re the most rewarding games when it goes to the last day and the last hour when you get home; they’re the games that you remember, they’re the games that you feel really satisfied – hard fought and you get over the line when it really matters.

“I was very, very proud of the lads – I thought they were outstanding, and it was nice to walk away with good points from the Oval.”