In 2008,

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

competed in Division One of 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 bec ...

, the South-East Division of the 50-over

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

, Division Two of the

NatWest Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

and the South Division of the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

. Kent also hosted a three-day first-class match against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

and a three-day match without first-class status against Leeds/Bradford UCCE, both 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 ...

. Kent were relegated from Division One of the County Championship, finishing second from bottom. They performed more strongly in limited overs cricket, finishing fourth in Division Two of the NatWest Pro40 and reaching the final of both the Twenty20 Cup and the Friends Provident Trophy, where they were defeated by

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 ...

and

Essex Essex () is a 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 River Thames to the south, and G ...

,Middlesex crowned champions in thriller
Cricnfo, 2008-7-8. Retrieved 2017-2-02.
Cricnfo, 2008-8-16. Retrieved 2017-2-02. respectively. Kent had been the defending champions in the Twenty20 Cup.

Squad

Former Pakistan international all-rounder

Azhar Mahmood Azhar Mahmood ( pnb, اظہر محمود ساگر; born 28 February 1975) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. He was the bowling coach of the Pakistani national cricket team until 2019. Previously, he played Tests and ODIs for Pa ...

signed a contract with Kent in November 2007 and, having recently applied for British citizenship, he would not count as an overseas player.Azhar Mahmood joins Kent
Cricinfo, 2007-11-22. Retrieved 2017-02-09. South African all-rounder

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 ...

, who played for Kent in 2005 and 2006, re-signed for the county on a two-year deal in February as a Kolpak player.Kent re-sign South Africa's Kemp
BBC Sport, 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-05. Left-arm spinner

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 ...

announced his retirement in February, ending a 19-year career with Kent that included two Test caps 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 b ...

and a total of 630 first-class wickets.Min Patel announces retirement
Cricinfo, 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2017-02-13.

Neil Dexter Neil John Dexter (born 21 August 1984) is a South African-born English cricketer. Early life Dexter was born in Johannesburg and attended Northwood School in Durban North and Downside School in Somerset in England. He went on to study at the ...

signed for Essex on a one-month load in June and this was subsequently extended.Dexter signs loan deal with Essex
BBC Sport, 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
Cricinfo, 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2017-02-05. After becoming frustrated at a lack of first XI opportunities, Dexter turned down a new contract at the end of the season and went on to sign for

.Dexter quits Kent for Middlesex
Kent Online, 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2017-02-05. Batsman Matt Walker was released in September after 20 years with Kent, and having made his first-team debut in 1992.Walker sad at end of Kent career
BBC Sport, 2008-9-8. Retrieved 2017-02-02. Walker went on to sign for

.Essex sign up Kent veteran Walker
BBC Sport, 2008-9-19. Retrieved 2017-2-02. The 2008 season would also be the second and last with Kent for

Yasir Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

, before he re-signed for

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 English ...

.Paceman Arafat returns to Sussex
BBC Sport, 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2017-02-02.

Squad list

* Ages given as of the first day of the County Championship season, 16 April 2008.

County Championship

Division One

Matches

Other first-class match

Tour match

Friends Provident Trophy

South-East Division

Matches

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

NatWest Pro40

Division Two

Matches

Twenty20 Cup

South Division

Matches

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

UCCE match

Kent's 3-day match against Leeds/Bradford UCCE in April did not have first-class status.

Statistics

Batting

Bowling

References

External links

Kent home
at ESPN cricinfo
Kent County Cricket Club official site
{{2008 English cricket season

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; ...

2008 in English cricket