In 2015,

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 Two 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 ...

, Group B of the 50-over

Royal London One-Day Cup The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 to 2013. In contrast to its 40-ove ...

and the South Group of the

NatWest t20 Blast 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 ...

. The team reached the quarter-finals of both one day competitions but struggled in the County Championship, finishing seventh in Division Two. The season was the fourth in charge for head coach

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 th ...

. The club captain was former England batsmen

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 ...

,Rob Key remains as club captain as Northeast leads side
BBC Sport website, 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-02-09. although

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 ...

took over the on-field captaincy in May after Key, having dropped himself due to poor form, chose to relinquish the captaincy to concentrate on his batting.Sam Northeast rising to the challenge of being Kent captain after Rob Key decided to take a short break
BBC Sport website, 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2015-18-09. Northeast replaced Key as the club captain for the 2016 season. Two players from the Kent squad made senior international appearances 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 ...

in 2015.

James Tredwell James Cullum Tredwell (born 27 February 1982) is an English former international cricketer. A left-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler, he played his domestic cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and was appointed as County Captain fo ...

was a part of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

squad, but only featured in the final group stage match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

after both sides had already been eliminated from the tournament. He then played in the first Test against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

(only his second Test, having made his debut in 2010). Tredwell took 5 wickets in the match but did not play in the remainder of the series, and with England turning to several younger players after the disappointing World Cup, he was not selected during the English summer. One of the new faces in the England team over the summer was Kent 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 ...

who played as a specialist batsmen in all 5 ODI matches against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and the single

T20I A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

matches against both Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Matt Coles won the club's Player of the Year award, taking 100 wickets across all formats in the first season of his second spell at the county.Matt Coles wins Spitfire Kent player of the year 2015

, 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2017-04-19.

Squad

The start of the season saw the return of top-order batsman

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 fast bowler Matt Coles after spells at

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

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

, respectively.Joe Denly: Kent re-sign Middlesex batsman as Nash & Adams stay
BBC Sport website, 2014-10-20. Retrieved 2016-02-14.Matt Coles: Kent re-sign all-rounder after Hampshire exit
BBC Sport website, 2015-03-10. Retrieved 2016-02-14. The squad did not include an overseas player.Kent Cricket officials back club's young prospects to fill any void left by not signing an overseas player for the 2015 season
''Kent Online'', 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2016-02-14.Kent 'may not sign overseas player' despite 2014 profit
BBC Sport website, 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2016-02-14. South African born batsman Sean Dickson, who holds a UK passport, signed for the county midway through the season after an impressive trial in the Second XI.Sean Dickson: Kent sign batsman after Second XI trial
BBC Sport website, 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2016-02-14. Having not made an appearance for the first XI since May, former

international

Brendan Nash Brendan Paul Nash (born 14 December 1977) is a Jamaican Australian former professional cricketer who played Test and One Day International cricket for West Indies. He played first-class cricket for Jamaica, Queensland and Kent. Early life Bre ...

agreed to end his three-and-a-half year spell at Kent by mutual consent.Brendan Nash leaves Kent
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
, ''Canterbury Times'', 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2016-01-30.

Squad list

* Ages given as of the first day of the County Championship season, 12 April 2015.

County Championship

Kent endured another difficult season in Division Two of the County Championship. Poor batting performances ultimately resulted in a seventh-place finish, although the team finished the season strongly and ended with 4 victories. The team regularly featured a number of young players and the bowling was impressive. Matt Coles took 67 championship wickets in 14 matches on his return to the county (and 100 wickets across all formats), while veteran all-rounder

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 an ...

again made a significant contribution with the ball. In addition, young seam bowlers including

Calum Haggett Calum John Haggett (born 30 October 1990) is an English first-class cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club. An all-rounder, he bowls right-arm medium pace, and bats left-handed. He made his debut for Somerset in the 2010–11 Caribbea ...

and

Ivan Thomas Ivan Alfred Astley Thomas (born 25 September 1991) is an English professional cricketer who most recently played for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-arm medium-fast seam bowler who bats right-handed. He made his first-class cricket de ...

impressed throughout the season and were rewarded with contract extensionsNew deals for Kent young guns
,

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, 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 ...

, 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2016-02-14. while

Matt Hunn Matthew David Hunn (born 22 March 1994) is a former English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. Hunn went to St Joseph's College in Ipswich. After pl ...

broke into the side after taking his first five wicket haul against the touring Australian side in June.EXCLUSIVE: Kent quick Matt Hunn struggling to come to terms with taking five wickets against Australia
''Kent Online'', 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2016-02-14.Steve Smith back to where it all began in Kent
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2016-02-14.

Division Two

Matches

Other first-class match

Kent hosted a first-class match 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 ...

against

, providing the tourists first opposition of the 2015 Ashes tour. Australia won the game by 225 runs, although Kent opening batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond scored a century in the side's second innings and seamer

took his first five wickets haul.Ashes 2015: Australia beat Kent by 255 runs at Canterbury
BBC Sport website, 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2016-02-14.

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 d ...

, 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2016-02-14.

Royal London One-Day Cup

In the 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup, Kent edged through the group stage in fourth place after a thrilling run chase against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...

in the penultimate round of group games saw a target of 336 achieved with 8 balls to spare. The match featured a century from

and a

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 wic ...

for bowler Matt Coles.One-Day Cup: Matt Coles' hat-trick sees Kent beat Notts
BBC Sport website, 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2016-02-14.

, 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2016-02-14. The final round of games in the group were all washed out by rain and the county progressed into the quarter-finals on

net run rate Net run rate (NRR) is a statistical method used in analysing teamwork and/or performance in cricket. It is the most commonly used method of ranking teams with equal points in limited overs league competitions, similar to goal difference in foo ...

.Rain helps Kent secure quarter-final

, 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2016-02-14.Coles gives Surrey fright after Roy's hundred

, 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2016-02-14. Kent lost the quarter-final against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in a rain affected match at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

. After bowling Surrey out for 273, a target of 251 from 40 overs was set using the Duckworth-Lewis Method following a heavy rain storm at the start of the Kent innings. Despite a counter-attacking century from Matt Coles, Kent were bowled out for 233.One-Day Cup: Jason Roy hits 112 as Surrey beat Kent
BBC Sport website, 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2106-02-14.

Group B

Matches

Quarter-finals

NatWest t20 Blast

After a series of good performances, Kent's young side topped the South Group of the 2015 NatWest t20 BlastKent continue to soar as Somerset face exit

, 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2016-02-14.Kent's rowdy bunch find their stride in T20

, 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2016-02-14. but went out of the competition at the quarter-final stage to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. After being bowled out for 142, late wickets led to a "dramatic" finish with Lancashire scoring two runs off the last ball of the match to tie the game with a score of 142/6.Lancashire progress after dramatic tie

, 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2106-02-14. Lancashire progressed to the finals day due to losing fewer wickets.T20 Blast: Lancashire beat Kent in dramatic tied quarter-final
BBC Sport website, 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2016-02-14.

South Group

Matches

Quarter-finals

MCCU match

Kent played a three-day match, without first-class status, against

Loughborough MCC University Loughborough MCC University (previously known as Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence) is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and the name under which the univers ...

before the start of the

season.

Statistics

and

both made over a thousand runs in first-class cricket in 2015 with Denly making the highest score for the county. Daniel Bell-Drummond scored three first-class centuries during the season and led the team in List A runs. Northeast scored a county record high score of 114 runs in the

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

competition. Matt Coles led the bowling statistics with 100 wickets across all competitions during the season, including 67 in first-class matches. Coles took a

in the Royal London One Day Cup quarter final loss to Surrey.

Mitchell Claydon Mitchell Eric Claydon (born 25 November 1982) is an Australian-English former first-class cricketer. Although he was born at Fairfield, New South Wales he holds a British passport. Claydon is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bow ...

led the Twenty20 bowling statistics.

Batting

Bowling

References

External links

Kent home
at ESPN cricinfo
Kent County Cricket Club official site
{{2015 English cricket season

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2015 in English cricket