At the end of one of the most turbulent spells known at Canterbury following the whole Spitfire squad being hit by COVID restrictions, Kent coach Matt Walker has spoken of his immense admiration of the way his players – old and “new” – overcame adversity to clinch a home T20 Quarter Final.

Speaking to KSN before he joined the Oval Invincibles Hundred squad, the coach was gushing with pride for everyone involved that saw the Spitfires affectionally earn a new nick-name – the “MacSpitfires!”

“Out of the fire came some beautiful moments and some terrific performances,” Walker admitted, “It was certainly one of the most stressful weeks that I can ever remember,” the Kent coach conceded.

“We all thought at the back of our minds that it could happen – and you’d never thought it was going to happen on the scale that it did! And because of the lateness of the test that proved positive – Saturday night at 7pm – we literally had hours to get a team together for the next day! It really was all hands to the pump, but I’m delighted to say that everyone came to the party.”

“We were all delighted by the terrific result at The Oval before being met the next day with news of a “potential” case of COVID was something that I’ll never forget. We had five players who hadn’t played at the night before and so have to find the others to face Sussex in the Championship. Those players did an amazing job and to put a shift in like they did on the Sunday really was remarkable.”

“We then had to get a side out to go to Lords to play Middlesex and then Sussex at Canterbury. We wanted to make them as competitive as we could as we tried to see who was available to fill in the slots. It was a crazy period that none of us will forget… we actually needed a keeper at one point, and someone suggested Paul Downton, but I can assure you Mike Yardy’s name for further up the list than mine!” Walker added smiling.

Then came the stunning win at Lords – a performance that stunned many – Walker included. He admitted, “I was lost for words after the game! We all had a feeling of huge, huge pride and I was so chuffed for them all – I think that when you put a new side together none of whom had played T20 this year; we had six making their first team debuts and putting all that together along with the lads coming down from Scotland only two days before the game who had just one practice session the day before with the others we pulled out of minor county cricket.”

“They all delivered something really quite remarkable that left everyone who knows the group or who were at the ground completely blown away – me included! It was an incredible game of cricket. You see some remarkable things on a sports field – you think you’re up against it and the writings on the wall and you just see what happens. Everyone of them produced and WOW! What an incredible result we got at Lords! OK wasn’t so great against Sussex but everyone of them deserved an opportunity to show our own fans what they can do after a performance like that.”

“When you’re at the sharp end of first class cricket, its amazing how people respond and I think that sometimes you really see the very best – you don’t always get a gauge in the nets or second team cricket but when it really mattered under pressure, we really saw the character and to see them on that stage really come alive was really exciting and give us a lot of options going forward…”