Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Kent teams have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century, and the club has always held first-class status. The current Kent County Cricket Club was formed on 6 December 1870 following the merger of two representative teams. Kent have competed in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

. The county has won the County Championship seven times, including one shared victory. Four wins came in the period between 1906 and 1913 with the other three coming during the 1970s when Kent also dominated one-day cricket cup competitions. A total of 13 one-day cricket cup victories include eight between 1967 and 1978, with the last trophy won by the club coming in the

2022 Royal London One-Day Cup The 2022 Royal London One-Day Cup tournament was a limited overs cricket competition that formed part of the 2022 domestic cricket season in England and Wales. Matches were contested over 50 overs per side, having List A cricket status, with ...

. The club plays most of its home matches at the

St Lawrence Ground The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent. It is the home ground of Kent County Cricket Club and since 2013 has been known as The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, due to commercial sponsorship. It is one of the oldest grounds ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

, which hosts

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first he ...

, the oldest cricket festival in England. It also plays some home matches at the

County Cricket Ground, Beckenham The County Ground, Beckenham is a cricket ground in Beckenham in the London Borough of Bromley. The ground is owned by Leander Sports and Leisure and is used as an outground by Kent County Cricket Club for First XI fixtures, as well as for other ...

and the Nevill Ground,

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks ...

which hosts

Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week is a festival of cricket during which Kent County Cricket Club play their home matches at Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club's Nevill Ground in Royal Tunbridge Wells. Games held during it are considered some of Kent's most p ...

. Kent also field a women's team. Kent Women won the Women's County Championship a record eight times, most recently in 2019, and the Women's T20 title three times, most recently in 2016. It has traditionally played matches at the Polo Farm in Canterbury, but since 2016 has moved to be based mainly at Beckenham.

History

Cricket is generally believed to have originated out of children's bat and ball games in the areas of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

, and these counties and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

were the first centres of the game. Bowen RF (1965
Cricket in the 17th and 18th centuries
in ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

''. (Available online at

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

. Retrieved 2022-04-04.) There are records of the sport being played in Kent during the 17th century,Ellis & Pennell, p. 7. although a match in 1705, probably at

Town Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norm ...

, is the first that is definitely recorded as taking place within the county.Moore, p. 18.

Early county teams to 1842

The first inter-county match took place between a Kent side and one from Surrey on Dartford Brent in 1709, although three matches between Kent and

in 1728 are more likely to have been the first properly representative county matches.Moore, p. 18.Robertson D (2009
Kent v Surrey – read more about the 300 year rivalry
Kent County Cricket Club, 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2018-03-14. Teams under the patronage of landowners such as

Edwin Stead Edwin Stead (1701 – 28 August 1735) was a noted patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent teams in the 1720s. He usually captained his teams but nothing is known about his ability as a player. He was born at Harrietsham in Kent and d ...

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

and

Lord John Sackville Lord John Philip Sackville (22 June 1713 – 3 December 1765) was the second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He was a keen cricketer who was closely connected with the sport in Kent. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamwort ...

, who established the Sevenoaks Vine ground on his Knole Park estate, increasingly became more representative of Kent as a county,Moore, pp. 18–19. and in 1744 a Kent team organised by Sackville played England at the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Com ...

, a match which was commemorated in a poem by James Love. Under the patronage of Sackville's son,

John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, KG (25 March 174519 July 1799) was the only son of Lord John Philip Sackville, second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. His mother was the former Lady Frances Leveson-Gower. He succeeded ...

, and Sir Horatio Mann, Kent continued to field strong teams throughout the last quarter of the 18th century, and were, along with Surrey, the main challengers to the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

teams organised primarily by the Hambledon Club.Collins S (2006
A brief history of Kent

, 2006-03-06. Retrieved 2016-02-14. The first inter-county match now considered to have first-class status was played between Kent and Surrey in 1773, and in 1787 a failed attempt to form a Kent County Club, with Dorset and Mann involved, was made at

Coxheath Coxheath is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of Maidstone. It is mainly centred along Heath Road which links the villages of Yalding and Boughton Monchelsea to the we ...

. Inter-county matches declined towards the end of the 18th century, possibly as a result of a lack of investment during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

,19th Century Cricket

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the '' ...

. Retrieved 2018-03-24. although Kent teams continued to play matches. The resumption of matches between county sides in 1825, when Kent met Sussex at Brighton's

Royal New Ground The Royal New Ground, also known as "Box's Ground", in Brighton, Sussex was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1814 to 1847. Originally called "Brown's Ground" in the 18th century, it was located where Park Crescent, Brighton now st ...

, saw matches organised by clubs in different parts of the county. A second attempt to form a County Club was made during the 1830s at Town Malling, backed by lawyers Thomas Selby and Silas Norton, alongside George Harris, 3rd Baron Harris.Birley, pp. 79–81. Selby and Norton recruited

Fuller Pilch Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled at a slow pace with a roundarm action. Pilch played in a total of 229 first-class matches for ...

from

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

, considered the best batsman in England, to play at Town Malling and maintain the

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by stri ...

. Pilch played in Kent teams alongside players such as

Alfred Mynn Alfred Mynn (19 January 1807 – 1 November 1861) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. Cricket w ...

, Nicholas Felix,

Ned Wenman Edward Gower "Ned" Wenman (18 August 1803 – 28 December 1879) was an English first-class cricketer whose career spanned the 1825 to 1854 seasons. A specialist wicket-keeper, he was a prominent member of the great Kent team of the 1840s which a ...

and

William Hillyer William Richard Hillyer (5 March 1813 – 8 January 1861), was a prominent 19th century English professional cricketer for Kent County Cricket Club, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and many other sides in the days before county and international ...

which dominated English cricket, winning 98 matches during the period, and the team is considered to have been the leading county side for six seasons out of the seven between 1837 and 1843. The expense of running county games meant that Town Malling proved too small to support a county club, and the club was wound up in 1841, Pilch moving to the Beverley club at

The first county clubs: 1842–1870

The Beverley Cricket Club was formed in 1835 at the Canterbury estate of brothers John and

William de Chair Baker William de Chair Baker (21 April 1823 – 20 February 1888) was an English cricketer and cricket administrator who played for and was involved with Kent County Cricket Club throughout his life. Baker played first-class cricket for Kent and for ...

, initially playing in the St Stephen's district of the city before moving to the

Beverley Ground The Beverley Ground was a cricket ground in Canterbury in Kent. It was in use in the mid-19th century, with recorded matches taking place between 1839 and 1846. It was the home ground of Beverley Cricket Club and was where the first Kent County C ...

in 1839.Event locations - Beverley Meadow
,

Canterbury City Council Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the ...

. Retrieved 2017-11-30.Jones KH (1934
An early relic of Kent Cricket
in ''Archaeologia Cantiana'', vol. 48, pp. 240–243. Retrieved 2017-12-01. After the failure of the Town Malling club, the Bakers stepped in to organise Kent teams, with Pilch managing the ground. The Beverley club became the Kent Cricket Club on 6 August 1842, when it reconstituted itself during its annual cricket festival. The club was the first formal incarnation of Kent County Cricket Club, and the 1842 cricket festival is considered the first

.Kent County Cricket Club Timeline
Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-11-23.Robertson D (2009
Read about the origins of Canterbury Week
Kent County Cricket Club, 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2018-03-24. The new Kent club played its initial first-class match against an England side at

White Hart Field White Hart Field was a cricket ground in Bromley in south-east London. The ground, which was in the county of Kent until 1965, was on an area of open space and farm land which stretched from Bromley Palace to Widmore Green.

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

on 25–27 August 1842, and initially the success of the club continued, with Kent considered the leading county side in 1843, 1847 and 1849. The club moved to the

on the eastern side of Canterbury in 1847, with Pilch once again moving to manage the ground. This was later established as the county's formal headquarters, although Kent continued to play matches on a variety of grounds around the county until well into the 20th century, rarely using the St Lawrence Ground for more than two or three matches a year. As the team built around Pilch retired from cricket, the fortunes of the club declined, the county sometimes forced to field teams of up to 16 or to combine with other clubs in order to compete.Moseling & Quarrington, pp. 1–2. Financial difficulties followed and on 1 March 1859 a second county club was formed at

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

to support the Canterbury-based club. The two clubs, the Canterbury club known as East Kent, the Maidstone club as West Kent, co-operated to an extent, although the relationship was later described as "anything but satisfactory". Marsham G (1907
A short history of Kent cricket
''

''. Retrieved 2018-03-06. The standard of cricket played by the county side, generally organised by the West Kent club, remained poor and the county found it difficult to attract either the best amateur players or professionals to play, many amateurs only willing to appear during Canterbury Week.Kelson, Mr George Mortimer
Obituaries in 1920, ''

'', 1921. Retrieved 2018-02-27. An 1870 meeting chaired by the 3rd Lord Harris at the Bull Inn at

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

saw the two clubs merge to form the present day Kent County Cricket Club.

A single county club: 1870–1914

Initially the amalgamation of the clubs failed to improve performances on the pitch. The best amateurs still rarely appeared and Kent lacked a core of talented professionals to provide the team with a solid foundation. The 4th Lord Harris was elected to the General Committee in 1870 and became captain and secretary in 1875. He set about reforming the club with an "energetic administration", although performances improved only slowly at first and when the

was formerly established in 1890 Kent were initially able to finish only in mid table.Moseling & Quarrington, p. 2. Albert Chevallier Tayler - Kent Vs Lancashire 1906

Albert Chevallier Tayler - Kent Vs Lancashire 1906

The establishment of the

Tonbridge Nursery The Angel Ground was a sports ground at Tonbridge in the English county of Kent. It was used as a venue for first-class cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1869 and 1939 and then for association football by Tonbridge Angels F.C., until ...

in 1897 as a player development centre for young professionals was one of the key developments that lay the foundations for the successes of the pre-war period. The Nursery, which was run by Captain

William McCanlis Captain William McCanlis (30 October 1840 – 19 November 1925) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1862 and 1877 and later became known for his role in coaching young cricketers at the cou ...

and set up and overseen by

Tom Pawley Tom Edward Pawley (21 January 1859 – 3 August 1923) was an English first-class cricketer active 1880–87 who played for Kent County Cricket Club. He was born in Farningham and died in Canterbury.Colin Blythe Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of ...

and

Arthur Fielder Arthur Fielder (19 July 1877 – 30 August 1949) was an English professional cricketer who played as a fast bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team from 1900 to 1914. He played a major role in Kent's four County Champi ...

forming the core of the Kent attack.Moseling & Quarrington, p. 11. Professional batsmen such as

Punter Humphreys Edward Humphreys (24 August 1881 – 6 November 1949), known as Punter Humphreys, was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1899 and 1920. He played nearly 400 first-class matches ...

and James Seymour and all-rounders such as Frank Woolley became an increasing part of Kent's success, coming together with a group of "gifted" amateurs to produce strong batting lineups.Moseling & Quarrington, p. 3. This Kent side was the first since the 1840s to enjoy a period of real success, winning the

four times in the years between 1906 and 1914. The first title, in 1906, came under the captaincy of Cloudesley Marsham and was won on the last day of the season. Sides captained by

Ted Dillon Edward Wentworth Dillon (15 February 1881 – 20 April 1941) was an English amateur sportsman in the early years of the 20th century. He played over 200 first-class cricket matches, mainly for Kent County Cricket Club between 1900 and 1913. Dill ...

won three further Championships in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Jan ...

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

and 1913 and the Kent XI was strong throughout the pre-war period.Green D (1981) When a Blythe spirit brought four titles, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', 1981-05-19, p. 18. Blythe was the team's leading bowler throughout the period, taking over 100 wickets each season between 1902 and 1914, including 17 in one day against

Northants Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is kn ...

in 1907.Colin Blythe
Obituary, ''

'', 1918. Retrieved 2018-04-06.

Consistency but no Championships: 1919–1939

Blythe was killed during the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

in 1917, although it is unlikely he would have returned to county cricket after the war was over. The Kent side, once the makeshift 1919 season had been played, continued to be consistently strong throughout the inter-war period, finishing in the top five of the County Championship table in all but one season between 1919 and 1934.Moore, Dudley (1974
Kent's triumphant revival
''

'', 1974. Retrieved 24 October 2018. Players such as Woolley,

Wally Hardinge Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965),

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of a ...

all played at the peak of their careers, whilst Blythe's bowling was replaced by

Tich Freeman Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman (17 May 1888 – 28 January 1965) was an English first-class cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most ...

's. Freeman took 102 wickets for Kent in 1920 and then took at least 100 each season until 1936, taking 262 in 1933. He leads all Kent bowlers in wickets taken.Burrowes ''et. al.'', pp. 89–115. Kent scored 803 for 4 declared against

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

at Brentwood in 1934, with

Bill Ashdown William Henry Ashdown (27 December 1898 – 15 September 1979) was an English professional cricketer. He is one of a very few men who played first-class cricket before the First World War and after the Second World War. Ashdown was born in B ...

scoring 332, Ames 202

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

and Woolley 172. The total took just seven hours, with 623 runs scored on the first day alone and remains, as of 2022, Kent's highest score in first-class cricket, Ashdown's 332 runs remaining the highest individual score made for Kent.Robertson D (2014
Essex v Kent at Brentwood in 1934
Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2018-04-06.The 300 Club: Dickson and Ashdown (and Woolley and Cowdrey)
Kent Cricket Heritage Trust, 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2018-04-06. Arthur Fagg scored a unique two double centuries in the same match for Kent against Essex at

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

in 1938,A brief history of Castle Park

. Retrieved 2018-04-06. while Woolley scored over 1,000 runs for Kent in each season between 1920 and his retirement in 1938. In 1928 he made 2,894 runs for the county at a batting average of 59.06. He retired in 1938 after making 764 appearances for the county side, with 47,868 runs, 122 centuries and 773 catches for Kent―all county records.

Post-war rebuilding and the Second Golden Age: 1946–1978

Gerry Chalk Frederick Gerald Hudson Chalk , born Gerald Frederick Hudson Chalk and known as Gerry Chalk, (7 September 1910 – 17 February 1943) was an English amateur cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who played first-class cricket for Oxford Univ ...

had captained the side in 1939 when they had, once again, finished in the top five of the Championship, but he was killed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and the post-war period saw Kent struggle to compete consistently. After two promising seasons under Bryan Valentine in 1946 and 1947, the county only finished in the top nine teams twice between 1948 and 1963. The rebuilding of the side continued under David Clark's captaincy―Clark would later become chairman of the club.

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

, the first man to play 100 Test matches, made his Kent debut in 1950 and was appointed captain in 1957, following Doug Wright who was the first professional to captain the side. Wright took over 2,000 wickets with his brisk

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

s and googlies between 1932 and 1957 and became the only player to take seven

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

s – six of them taken for Kent.Doug Wright
Obituary, ''

'', 1999. Retrieved 2018-10-24. An improvement in performances began in the mid-1960s under the captaincy of Cowdrey and the management of former wicket-keeper

. A seventh placed finish in 1964 was followed by fifth-place in 1965 and fourth-place in 1966 before the county finished as runners-up in 1967, winning the Gillette Cup in the same season. Another second-place finish in 1968 followed before the county won their first Championship since 1913 in 1970. Ten trophies were won during the 1970s, including a second Championship title 1978 and a shared title in 1977. The Sunday League was won in 1972, 1973 and 1976, the

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

in 1973, 1976 and 1978 and the Gillette Cup again in 1974 – six of the trophies between 1972 and 1976 under the captaincy of

Mike Denness Michael Henry Denness (1 December 1940 – 19 April 2013) was a Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Kent and Essex. Scotland did not have a representative international team at the time of Denness' career, so he could only play ...

who had succeeded Cowdrey in 1972.Pennell M (2013
Gracious captain; Kent legend

, 2013-04-20. Retrieved 2016-02-28.

Recent history

After no trophies during the 1980s, Kent won the

1995 Axa Equity & Law League The 1995 AXA Equity & Law League was the twenty-seventh competing of English cricket's Sunday League. The competition was won for the fourth time by Kent County Cricket Club. Standings Batting averages Bowling averages See also * Sunday ...

and the

2001 Norwich Union League The 2001 Norwich Union League season was a 45 over English county cricket competition; colloquially known as the Sunday League, it featured many mid-week floodlit matches. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. E ...

. In August 2007, the side won the Twenty20 Cup for the first time, defeating

in the semi-finals, with captain

Rob Key Robert William Trevor Key (born 12 May 1979) is an English former cricketer and cricket commentator who played international cricket in all formats for England and domestic cricket for Kent County Cricket Club. He is the current Managing Direct ...

scoring 68 not out.Berry S (2007
Kent take the spoils after McLaren's hat-trick
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 2007-08-05. Retrieved 2016-11-17.Twenty20 Cup finals day – Twenty20 Cup semi-final, Edgbaston
BBC Sport, 2007-08-26. Retrieved 2016-11-17. In the final they defeated

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

in a see-saw game where in the final over, chasing 148, they required 13 runs, winning with three balls to spare. Matthew Walker top scored for Kent in the final with 45 runs while

Darren Stevens Darren Ian Stevens (born 30 April 1976) is an English cricketer. An all-rounder, he bats right-handed and bowls right-arm medium-pace. In first-class cricket, he has scored over 16,000 runs and since the age of 35 has taken over 500 wickets a ...

scored 30 not out from 21 balls, including hitting the winning runs. Earlier in the final,

Ryan McLaren Ryan McLaren (born 9 February 1983) is a South African professional cricketer, who plays for all formats in international level. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. McClaren signed a contract with English County side ...

took a

.Twenty20 Cup finals day
BBC Sport, 2007-08-26. Retrieved 2016-11-17. In 2008, the county were relegated from to the Second Division of the County Championship for the first time. They won the Division in the 2009 season, but were relegated again at the end of the 2010 season and played in the division until 2018, with a best finish of second in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, failing to be promoted only due to a restructuring of the divisional system. In November 2016, Kent accepted an invitation from the

West Indies Cricket Board Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Ind ...

to compete in the

2016–17 Regional Super50 The 2016–17 Regional Super50 was the 43rd edition of the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The tournament was held in Antigua and Barbuda. Ten teams pa ...

domestic

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

tournament in January and February 2017.Kent to play in West Indies Super50 as part of FGS Plant Tour
Kent County Cricket Club, 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2016-11-16.

, 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2016-11-17.Wilson A (2016
One-Day Cup takes centre stage

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, ...

, 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2016-11-27. This was the first time that any English county side had competed in an overseas domestic competition.'Matt Walker's Kent embark on a winter Caribbean odyssey', ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', February 2017.
Available online
) The invitation was partly due to the influence of former

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

captain

Jimmy Adams James Clive Adams OD (born 9 January 1968) is a former Jamaican cricketer, who represented the West Indies as player and captain during his career. He was a left-handed batsman, left-arm orthodox spin bowler and fielder, especially in the ...

who had, until September 2016, been Kent's Head Coach and was followed by an invitation to take part in the competition again in 2018.Kent, Hampshire invited for WI Regional Super50

, 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2018-01-30. Kent were promoted to Division 1 at the end of the 2018 season, having finished second in Division 2 and retained their place in the top division in 2019. In 2021 the team won their first trophy for 14 years, beating

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

in the T20 Blast final.

Grounds

Kent's main ground is the

. This ground has been used by the club since 1847 and Kent have played over 500 first-class matches at the ground. It is famous for having a tree, the

St Lawrence Lime The St Lawrence Lime Tree was a at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, Kent, England. It was located within the boundary ropes of the cricket field which required special rules. In 2005, it was broken in two in high winds. History It is no ...

, on the playing field. The original tree, around which the ground was built, was broken in two by high winds in January 2005 and replaced by a smaller replacement lime tree later in the same year.St Lawrence Ground

. Retrieved 2016-01-09.End of innings for cricket tree
BBC News website, 2005-01-10. Retrieved 2016-02-09.Cricket club reveal new lime tree
BBC News website, 2005-03-08. Retrieved 2016-02-09. The ground hosts the annual

, the oldest cricket festival in the world.Kent Cricket 2015 fixtures revealed
, Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
, ''Canterbury Times'', 2014-11-28. Retrieved 2016-02.09. This dates from 1842 and has been held at the ground since the club moved there.
, ECB, 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2016-02-09.London 2012: Kent chief executive not concerned at Olympic clash
BBC Sport website. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2016-02-09. Kent played their first official match at

in August 1842 and since then have used 29 different grounds within the historic county. Some of these grounds, although still in the historic county of Kent are now also within the

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

area. Two outgrounds remain in regular use, the redeveloped

and the Nevill Ground in

. The latter ground hosts the

and has seen over 200 Kent home matches played on it.Nevill Ground

. Retrieved 2016-02-09.Kent coach Paul Farbrace hails Tunbridge Wells support
BBC Sport website, 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2016-02-09. Former venues include

Mote Park Mote Park is a multi-use public park in Maidstone, Kent. Previously a country estate it was converted to landscaped park land at the end of the 18th century before becoming a municipal park. It includes the former stately home Mote House tog ...

, which was used until 2005 and has been the venue for over 200 Kent first-class matches,Kent end 140-year Maidstone deal
BBC Sport website, 2005-09-30. Retrieved 2016-02-09. as well as grounds in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

and

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

, all of which have had more than 100 home matches played on them. The county's main offices are based at the St Lawrence Ground. Indoor cricket schools are in place at both this ground and at Beckenham which acts as a centre of excellence for player development in the west of the county.Kent buoyed by Beckenham ground redevelopment approval
''Kent Online'', 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2016-02-03.

Players

Kent's most notable former players include

, the first man to play 100 Test matches, Frank Woolley, Derek Underwood and wicket-keepers

and Alan Knott. All five men played Test cricket for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, making at least 40 Test match appearances. They are the only players to have stands named after them at the

, Kent's home ground in

.Brenkley S (2015
Australia vs Kent day one match report: Shaun Marsh opens with century as Aussies underline their Ashes threat
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 2015-06-25. Retrieved 2016-03-01. A total of 30 Kent players have been named as one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

, most recently Zak Crawley and

in 2021 and Tammy Beaumont in 2019.Crawley & Stevens named Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Kent County Cricket Club, 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2021-04-15.Collins A (2019
Wisden 2019 Cricketer of the Year: Tammy Beaumont - England's record-breaking runscorer
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-10.Ben Stokes: Wisden name England all-rounder leading cricketer in world again

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside f ...

, 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2021-04-15. Other particularly notable former players include spin bowlers

Colin Blythe Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of ...

and

. Blythe was a major force in the four

wins in the years leading up to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and took 100 wickets in every season from 1902 to 1914.Colin Blythe - Profile

. Retrieved 2016-02-29. He played 17 Tests for England but was killed in action during World War I. A memorial at the St Lawrence Ground is dedicated to him. Freeman played during the period after World War I and took over 150 wickets in a season for Kent 14 times. He is the only bowler to take more than 300 wickets in an English season, a feat he achieved in 1928, and the only man to have taken all ten wickets in an innings three times.Tich Freeman - Profile

. Retrieved 2016-02-29. Fast bowler

Graham Dilley Graham Roy Dilley (18 May 1959 – 5 October 2011) was an English international cricketer, whose main role was as a fast bowler. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and Worcestershire County Cricket Clubs, and appeared in ...

represented England in 41 Test matches in the 1980s, whilst all-rounder Mark Ealham played in 64

one-day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

s in the 1990s and early 2000s. Other than Ames and Knott, Kent has produced a number of other top class

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

s.Billings keen to match the Kent keeper kings
''Canterbury Times'', 2014-04-17. Retrieved 2016-03-01. Fred Huish, who never played for England, is considered as the "first of a line of exceptional Kent wicket-keepers"Obituary: Fred Huish
''

'' 1958. Retrieved 2016-02-17. which have included

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match ...

, who played 91 Tests for England,Foot D (1999
Godfrey Evans - Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 1999-05-04. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

Geraint Jones Geraint Owen Jones (born 14 July 1976) is a former cricketer who played for both England and Papua New Guinea. Born to Welsh parents in Papua New Guinea, between 2004 and 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for the England cricket team. ...

, with 34 Test and 49 ODI appearances, as well as

Edward Tylecote Edward Ferdinando Sutton Tylecote (23 June 1849 – 15 March 1938) was an English cricketer. He was born in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire and was educated at Clifton CollegeOakley EM (ed) (1890) ''Clifton College Register'', pp. 14–15. Lond ...

, George Wood and

Hopper Levett William Howard Vincent "Hopper" Levett (25 January 1908 – 30 November 1995) was an English cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Kent County Cricket Club between 1930 and 1947. Levett was born at Goudhurst in Kent and educated at Brigh ...

all of whom were capped by the country.Ryder R (1972
The great wicket-keepers - from Tom Sueter to Alan Knott
''

''. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

Paul Downton Paul Rupert Downton (born 4 April 1957) is the current Director of Cricket at Kent County Cricket Club. He had previously been the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board between February 2014 and April 2015. He is a former ...

started his career at Kent as part of this line of players and the teams' current wicket-keeper,

Sam Billings Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

, has made one-day appearances for England. Overseas players who have made a significant contribution to Kent cricket include

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

John Shepherd,

Eldine Baptiste Eldine Ashworth Elderfield Baptiste (born 12 March 1960) is an Antiguan former professional cricketer. He played in 10 Test matches – all of which resulted in West Indian victories – and 43 One Day Internationals (ODI) for the West Indies, b ...

Bernard Julien Bernard Denis Julien (born 13 March 1950) is a Trinidad and Tobago cricketer who played as an allrounder. As a right handed batsman who bowled left arm pace and spin, Julien played in 24 Tests and 12 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. H ...

and

Carl Hooper Carl Llewelyn Hooper (born 15 December 1966) is a former Guyanese cricketer who captained the West Indies in Tests and ODIs. An all-rounder, he was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a side ...

and Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal all of whom played multiple seasons for the county.

South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics Sout ...

Martin van Jaarsveld Martin van Jaarsveld (born 18 June 1974) is a former South African cricketer who played nine Tests and eleven One Day Internationals for South Africa between 2002 and 2004. Van Jaarsveld is a specialist middle-order batsman, though he has two ...

Justin Kemp Justin Miles Kemp (born 2 October 1977) is a South African former international cricketer who played all formats of the game for South Africa. Kemp is the 3rd generation cricketer to play first class cricket, his grandfather John Miles Kemp pl ...

and

Andrew Hall Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...

have done the same,Rabada to follow in footsteps of great South Africans at Kent
Kent County Cricket Club, 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-03-01. as has

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds (9 June 1975 – 14 May 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two World Cup winning squads. Symonds played as a ri ...

. Other great world cricketers to have played for the county for single seasons include

Sri Lankans This is a demography of the population of Sri Lanka including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Sri Lanka is an island in the ...

Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva ( si, අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. de Silva helped Sri Lanka to win the ...

and

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan ( si, මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන්, ta, முத்தையா முரளிதரன், also spelt Muralidaran; born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional c ...

, India's

Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...

and Australia's former Test captain

Steve Waugh Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australi ...

.XI Kent's Overseas Cricketers, ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', p.227. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.

Kent cricket legends' walkway

As part of the redevelopment of Kent's home ground, the

, the county planned to develop a "legends' walkway" at the entrance to the ground.Kent cricket joins forces with KRNM for the Legends' Walkway
, Kent County Cricket Club, 2011-01-14. A public vote was held to select 12 former players of the club to honour in the walkway. The 12 players were named in June 2011. They included

, who played for the county in the 19th century,

and Frank Woolley from the first half of the 20th century,

and Doug Wright from the 1930s–50s era, and

, Alan Knott,

Brian Luckhurst Brian William Luckhurst (5 February 1939 – 1 March 2005) was an English cricketer, who played his entire county career for Kent County Cricket Club. He played for Kent from 1958 to 1976, usually opening the batting, then in 1985, in an emerg ...

, John Shepherd and Derek Underwood from the teams of the 1960s and 70s.Kent cricket announce Legends' Walkway results
, Kent County Cricket Club, 2011-06-02. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
''Canterbury Times'', 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2016-06-15. The first bricks were produced for the walkway in April 2012First Legends' Walkway bricks produced
Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2016-06-15. although they were removed during development of the ground in 2017–18 and moved adjacent to the Nackington Road entrance.

Captains

Sam Billings Kent V Surrey 2015 at Kia Oval Cricket Ground (27190750944)

As of 2021 the current club captain of Kent is

, who was appointed in January 2018, replacing

Sam Northeast Sam Alexander Northeast (born 16 October 1989) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman. Northeast made his senior debut in 2007 and until 2017 played for Kent County Cricket ...

.Sam Billings: England limited-overs player replaces Sam Northeast as Kent captain

, 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2018-01-30. In total 33 men have been appointed as club captain, beginning with

Lord Harris Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3 February 1851 – 24 March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay. He was also an English amateur cricketer, mainly active f ...

in 1875.

captained the side for the longest span in the County Championship era, serving between 1957 and 1971.

led the county to the

title three times, the only man to captain Kent to more than one championship title.

' side of the early 1970s won six one-day titles in his five years as captain.

Current squad

Of the players in the current squad

Joe Denly Joseph Liam Denly (born 16 March 1986) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional leg break bowler who plays as a top-order batsman. Denly played age group cricket f ...

and Zak Crawley have appeared in Test matches and

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

Fred Klaassen Frederick Jack Klaassen (born 13 November 1992) is an English-born Dutch international cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He made his List A debut for the Netherlands against Zimbabwe on 24 June 2017, having played club cricket in ...

has played ODI and T20 cricket for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Grant Stewart T20 Internationals for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. * No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt. * denotes players with international caps. * denotes a player who has been awarded a

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Coaching staff

Matt Walker is head coach of the side, having been appointed in January 2017 following former coach

' decision to return to the Caribbean. Walker played for Kent for 16 seasons and was previously batting coach at

.Matt Walker: Kent head coach signs two-year contract extension

, 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-10-31. The team's bowling coach is

Simon Cook Simon Cook may refer to: * Simon Cook (English cricketer) (born 1977), English cricketer * Simon Cook (Australian cricketer) (born 1972), Australian cricketer * Simon S. Cook (1831–1892), Canadian lumber merchant and political figure *Simon Cook ...

, another past player. Cook was head coach of the

Hong Kong cricket team The Hong Kong national cricket team is the team that represents independent Hong Kong in international competition. It played its first match in 1866 and has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1969.

between 2015 and 2019 before joining Kent.Hogwood C (2019
Kent appoint Simon Cook as specialist bowling coach
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

'', 2019-09-16. Retrieved 2019-09-16.Careem N (2019
Hong Kong cricket ‘can go no further’ without facilities, says outgoing coach Simon Cook as senior side aim for ODI boost
''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'', 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-09-16. Former Essex captain

Ryan ten Doeschate Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a former Dutch–South African cricketer who played for the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. Ten Doeschate was named ICC ...

was appointed as the side's batting coach in December 2021.Ryan ten Doeschate: Kent name former Essex captain as new batting coach

, 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2021-12-20. The Head of Talent Pathway in charge of the development of young cricketers at the club is former Second XI coach and player

Min Patel Minal Mahesh Patel (born 7 July 1970) is a retired Indian-born English cricketer who made two appearances in Test cricket for the England cricket team. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow left arm bowler, who primarily played for Kent Cou ...

.Patel appointed Head of Talent Pathway
Kent County Cricket Club, 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2020-01-07. Patel works alongside Mark Dekker who had previously coached Kent Women.Hathrill appointed Kent Women Head Coach
Kent County Cricket Club, 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2020-01-07. Former player Mark Ealham is a part-time coach with the club, also spending time coaching at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

.Mark Ealham
Management Team, Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-10-31.

Records

Frank Woolley, who played for Kent between 1906 and 1938, holds the record for the most appearances, most career runs and most runs in a season for the county. He is the only man to score more than 100 centuries for Kent with 122 and is the county's fifth leading wicket taker.

holds the record for the highest score for the county with 332 runs against

in 1934. He is one of only two men to have scored a triple-century for Kent, with two to his name, the other being Sean Dickson who scored 318 against

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

.Milton H (2016) 'First-class records' in ''2016 Kent County Cricket Club Annual'', Kent County Cricket Club, 2016, pp. 189–235.Dickson's 318 tops day of Kent records

, 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2017-07-04.

is the county's leading wicket taker with 3,340 wickets. Freeman took more than 150 wickets for the county 14 times and holds the record for the most wickets in a season. Fellow

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

has the best bowling figures in Kent's history taking 10/30 against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in 1907, with 17/48 in the match. Freeman took

ten wickets in a match In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...

128 times with Blythe achieving the same feat 64 times. Along with Woolley and Freeman,

Wally Hardinge Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965),

James Seymour and Derek Underwood are the only men with more than 500 first-class appearances for Kent.

Kent Women

The

Kent Women cricket team The Kent Women cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English county of Kent. They play their home matches at County Cricket Ground, Beckenham, as well as the St Lawrence Ground and Polo Farm, both in Canterbury. They a ...

plays in the London Championship and Women's Twenty20 Cup. The first recorded match by a Kent Women's team was in May 1935,Other matches played by Kent Women
, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-05-24. with the team first appearing in the Women's Area Championship in 1980.
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-05-24. The side features a number of international players and is captained by

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

Tammy Beaumont. They won the County Championship a record eight times during its existence, including the final tournament in 2019, and have won the Women's Twenty20 Cup three times, most recently in 2016. The team play the majority of their home matches at the

. The Women's team is sponsored by

Canterbury Christ Church University , mottoeng = The truth shall set you free , established = 2005 – gained University status 1962 – teacher training college , type = Public , religious_affiliation = Church of England , city ...

Gentlemen of Kent

The Gentlemen of Kent side, generally made up of amateur "gentlemen" cricketers from the county, played 48 first-class matches between 1830 and 1880. These matches were played almost exclusively against MCC and

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

sides and an annual first-class fixture took place during the

between 1842 and 1866.Moore, pp. 29–30. The Gentlemen would also regularly play a one-day match against

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the 'wa ...

, an amateur wandering side, during the Week and other matches were played on occasion, including against the touring Australian aboriginal side in 1868.Miscellaneous matches played by the Gentlemen of Kent
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2020-08-04. Sides named the Gentlemen of Kent had played cricket matches during the 18th century. The earliest known featuring a side using the name was a 1734 match against a Gentlemen of Sussex side at Sevenoaks Vine. The side was closely associated with the county side and had strong links to other amateur sides, including I Zingari and Band of Brothers, both of which would host tents during Canterbury Week, as well as to

Old Stagers The Old Stagers (OS) is an amateur theatre group, founded in 1842 by Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (later Earl of Bessborough) to perform during Kent's annual Canterbury Cricket Week. Originally the Canterbury Old Stagers, it took its current name in 1 ...

, an amateur drama group which performed during Canterbury Week.Rice, p. 19, p. 24.

Kent Cricket Academy

Kent established an academy in 2003 with the aim of developing future first-class cricketers. The academy is based at the

and makes use of the Ames-Levett Sports Centre at the ground.Kent County Council to support Cricket Academy

, 2003-02-19. Retrieved 2016-06-01. It has produced over 25 first-term players for the county, including current club captain

and senior England internationals Tammy Beaumont,

Natasha Farrant Natasha Eleni Farrant (born 29 May 1996) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Kent Women cricket team, Kent, South East Stars, Oval Invincibles and England women's cricket team, England. She plays as a left-arm Fast bowling, fast-med ...

Lydia Greenway Lydia Sophie Greenway (born 6 August 1985) is an English former cricketer who played as a left-handed batter and occasional right-arm off break bowler. She was also regarded as one of the best outfielders in the women's game. She appeared in 1 ...

and

Jo Watts Joanna Karen "Jo" Watts (born 18 May 1987) is an English former cricketer who played as a right-arm Off spin, off break Bowler (cricket), bowler and right-handed Batting (cricket), batter. She appeared in seven Women's One Day International, One ...

.Kent coach Simon Willis appointed Sri Lanka high performance manager
, ''Kent News'', 2016-05-24. Retrieved 2016-06-01. The leading academy scholar is awarded the John Aitken Gray trophy each year. Past winners have included county First XI players

Daniel Bell-Drummond Daniel James Bell-Drummond (born 4 August 1993) is an English professional cricketer, who plays for Kent County Cricket Club primarily as a batsman. He has represented England at youth level and has played for the England Lions cricket team a ...

Alex Blake Alex Blake (born Alejandro Blake Fearon Jr.) is a jazz bass player. Biography Blake was born in Panama and moved to the United States at the age of 7, growing up in Brooklyn, NY. He began his career with Sun Ra in his band Arkestra. He became o ...

Pyman T (2015
Trio honoured in Kent Cricket Academy Awards
, ''Kent News'', 2015-09-02. Retrieved 2016-06-01. and

Ollie Robinson Oliver Edward Robinson (born 1 December 1993) is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England cricket team, England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents Sussex County Cricket Club, Sussex, havin ...

.Trio win Academy awards
Kent County Cricket Club 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2018-02-03. The academy was established by former wicket-keeper Simon Willis.Simon Willis appointed Director of the newly formed Kent Cricket Academy

, 2003-01-15. Retrieved 2016-06-01.

Paul Farbrace Paul Farbrace (born 7 July 1967) is the Head Coach of Sussex and a former professional cricketer. He is also a former assistant coach to the England cricket team. Farbrace, nicknamed "Farbie", was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman who ...

and Philip Relf held lead coaching roles within the scheme until Willis was appointed as high performance director in 2011, serving in the role until May 2016 when he was appointed the high performance manager of

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...

.Willis gets top Kent job
BBC sport, 2003-11-19. Retrieved 2016-06-01.''Kent academy post for Relf'',

, 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2016-06-01.Simon Willis named SL high performance manager

, 2016-05-23. Retrieved 2016-06-01.Departing Kent coach Simon Willis praised after Sri Lanka nod
''Canterbury Times'', 2016-05-24. Retrieved 2016-06-01. Former Kent and England spin bowler

took over the running of the academy on an interim basis following Willis' departure before becoming Second XI coach in January 2017, with former

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

wicket-keeper

Jason Weaver Jason Michael Weaver (born July 18, 1979) is an American actor and singer best known for his roles as Marcus Henderson on The WB sitcom ''Smart Guy,'' Jerome Turrell on the short-lived sitcom '' Thea'' from 1993 to 1994, and the pre-teenaged ...

taking over the role as high performance director, the two jobs replacing Willis' former role.Second XI coach and high performance director appointed
Kent County Cricket Club, 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2017-01-25. When Weaver left the club in 2019, Patel took over the role, becoming the club's Head of Talent Pathway and working alongside former women's coach Mark Dekker.

Honours

Kent have won the

seven times, including one shared title. Four of their wins came in the years before

between

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and 1913,

captaining the side to three of their titles. The county had to wait until the 1970s to win their other Championship titles, winning outright in 1970 and 1978 and sharing the title with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in 1977. Kent have finished as runner-up in the Championship on 12 occasions, most recently in 2004. The County Championship Second Division title was won by the county in 2009.Reid J (ed) (2016) ''2016 Kent County Cricket Club Annual'', Kent County Cricket Club, p. 3. The county First XI has also won a number of limited overs competition trophies. Eight trophies were won between 1967 and 1978, six times by teams led by

. Three more trophies have followed in 1995, 2001 and 2007 and, most recently, the team won the

2021 T20 Blast The 2021 Vitality Blast was the 2021 season of the T20 Blast, a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in England and Wales. It was the fourth season in which the domestic T20 competition, run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), t ...

. Kent finished runners-up in the 2008 T20 competition, the 2008 Friends Provident Trophy and the 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup. The

Second XI Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

title has been won nine times by the county, including one shared win in 1987. As of 2019 this represents a record number of victories in the competition. Four of the victories have occurred in the 21st century, with the most recent in 2012. The Second XI Trophy one-day competition was won in 2002 and 2019 and the county won the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

twice in the 1950s when first-class Second XI's entered the competition. Kent's women have won the

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

(6) –

, 1913, 1970, 1978; shared (1) – 1977
Runners-up (12): 1988, 1908, 1911, 1919, 1928, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1997, 2004
County Championship Division Two (1) –

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Runners-up (2):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

*County Championship Division Three (1) –

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

* One-Day Cup (3) – 1967, 1974,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Runners-up (5): 1971, 1983, 1984,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(5) – 1972, 1973, 1976, 1995, 2001
Runners-up (4): 1970, 1979, 1993, 1997 *

(3) – 1973, 1976, 1978
Runners-up (5): 1977, 1986, 1992, 1995, 1997 * Twenty20 Cup (2) –

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Runners-up (1):

Second XI honours

(2) – 1951, 1956 *

(8) – 1961, 1969, 1970, 1976, 2002,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, 2006,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

; shared (1) – 1987 * Second XI Trophy (2) – 2002,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Women's honours

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

(ACS) (1985) ''A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles, 1709–1863'' (second edition). Nottingham: ACS.
Available online
Retrieved 2022-04-04.) * Birley D (1999) ''A Social History of English Cricket''. London: Aurum Press. *Burrowes P, Knight L, Oakes S, Barnard D, Francis P, Carlaw D, Milton H (eds) (2021) ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2021''. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. *Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition).
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) *Ellis C, Pennell M (2010) ''Trophies and Tribulations''. London: Greenwich Publishing. . *Hignell A (2002) ''Rain Stops Play: Cricketing Climates''. London: Abingdon. * Hughes S (2009) ''And God Created Cricket''. London: Transworld Publishers. *Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country''. Brighton: Reveille Press. . * McCann TJ, ed (2004) ''Sussex cricket in the Eighteenth Century''. Lewes: Sussex Record Society.
Available online
at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

library. Retrieved 2022-04-04.) *Milton H (1992) ''Cricket Grounds of Kent''. Nottingham:

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Statis ...

.
Available online
Retrieved 2022-04-04.) *Milton H (2020) ''Kent County Cricket Grounds''. Worthing: Pitch Publishing. *Moore D (1988) ''The History of Kent County Cricket Club''. London: Christopher Helm. *Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) ''A Half-Forgotten Triumph: The story of Kent's County Championship title of 1913''. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. . * Rice J (2019) ''Stories of Cricket’s Finest Painting''. Worthing: Pitch Publishing. * Underdown D (2000) ''Start of Play: Cricket and Culture in Eighteenth Century England'' London: Allen Lane.

External links

Official Kent County Cricket Club WebsiteOfficial Website of Kent Cricket Community Team
{{English first-class cricket clubs History of Kent Cricket in Kent 1842 establishments in England Cricket clubs established in 1842 English first-class cricket teams Sport in the London Borough of Bromley City of Canterbury Borough of Maidstone Sport in Royal Tunbridge Wells