Concluding the history of the club, based on the original article written by the Hon. Curator of Kent CCC, David Robertson.
Now we approach the present. By comparison with the 1960s and 1970s, the more recent years of Kent’s history have been somewhat barren, if measured in terms of winning trophies. But as in the past, there has been plenty to remember. The 1980s saw the emergence of many talented and exciting players who performed with great distinction for the county and in a number of cases for England. It was also a time of outstanding overseas players. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, Kent players won almost 100 England caps whilst our overseas players, notably Carl Hooper, Aravinda de Silva, Andrew Symonds and Paul Strang have also been pillars of their national sides. In limited overs internationals Kent players also served England with distinction, with a total award of over 350 Caps.
Despite the lack of team success, there were a number of outstanding individual performances which should not go unrecorded. In this period new record partnerships were created for the first, second, fourth, sixth and ninth wickets involving Mark Benson, Neil Taylor, Simon Hinks, Aravinda de Silva, Graham Cowdrey, Mark Ealham and Paul Strang, Neil Taylor scored his thirteenth first-class century at Canterbury (then a record), Matthew Walker passed Frank Woolley’s record score at Canterbury, and Dean Headley took three hat tricks in a season – 1996 – to equal the world record, with a Martin McCague hat trick as well in one of those matches.
In the long term, history will probably judge that this was a time of some disappointment for players and supporters, during which there were a number of seasons of near misses. Kent finished runners-up in the County Championship in 1988, 1992 and 1997, in the NatWest Trophy in 1983 and 1984, the Sunday League in 1993 and 1997 and in the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1986, 1992, 1995 and 1997. The Sunday League title was won in 1995, but that achievement was overshadowed by bottom place in the Championship, the worst ever performance in the Club’s history. But although there were so many ‘near misses’, the performance of the side over this period should not be dismissed as a failure. To finish runners-up on eleven occasions in the four competitions at a time when the pressures and demands on players were increasing to such an extent, is no mean achievement. There was a general belief that one or two titles in any of the competitions could have opened the flood gates to a series of successes to bring a return to those earlier years of achievement.
With the introduction of the T20 competition and despite a slow start, there wasthat could still happen. Appearances at Finals Day in 2007 and 2008 resulted in the Trophy coming to Canterbury in 2007 with runners-up spot the following year. A Quarter Final appearance at the St Lawrence ground in 2009 saw the County make it three finals in a row in front of the biggest crowd since 1993 but unfortunately on this occasion the team was defeated in the semi-final by Somerset.
Although a second T20 Finals Day appearance in 2008 was a great achievement, defeat by Middlesex in the Final off the last ball was followed by the side going down yet again in a Lord’s Final, to Essex in the Friends Provident Final and then defeat once more by Essex in the final match of the NatWest Pro40 League Division 2 which, had it been won, would have resulted in promotion. But without doubt the biggest disappointment of the season was, for the first time, relegation from the Championship 1st Division, confirmed after an overwhelming innings victory by Durham who sealed their first County Championship. It was a bitter pill to swallow especially as a win in the penultimate game would have given the team an outside chance of the Championship had they won that and the final game.
2009 saw the County bounce straight back to the First Division of the Championship. After setting the pace from the start of the season in Division 2 they finished with eight wins from their sixteen matches. They once again reached the T20 finals day, having reached that stage by winning seven of their ten matches in the qualifying group, but were overwhelmed by Somerset in the semi-final. But in the other two competitions they had a disappointing season.
Rob Key
All the same, many of the players of the time distinguished themselves not only with Kent but with England too. Rob Key, who captained the side from 2006 to 2012 and again in 2014 and 2015, played 15 times for England and scored the only double century ever made by a Kent player for England. He also holds the record for most first-class runs and centuries at Canterbury, where now Kent plays most of its cricket. Geraint Jones played 34 Test matches for England, including all five games of the epic 2005 Ashes series, and finished his career at Kent with over 100 consecutive championship appearances. Darren Stevens, brought in from Leicestershire in 2005, has been the backbone of the county side in all formats for over a decade and it is a scandal that he never once earned England recognition. Younger players like James Tredwell, Sam Billings, Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond have all been on the fringes of the England set-up while giving strong service to Kent, and are worthy successors to the long line of Kent’s best cricketers of the past.
In 2010, Kent were relegated back to Division Two of the County Championship, and since then have remained in the lower division. With the limited overs competitions ever changing, the championship has remained a focus for the club, but a severe financial crisis at this time meant that there was little money to spend on the playing staff, and inevitably the team became less able to compete with the bigger and richer clubs.
The financial straits that the club found themselves in resulted in major changes at the St. Lawrence ground, not all of which pleased club members. After selling the Chevallier Tayler painting of ‘Kent v Lancashire 1906’ to help pay some of the club’s debts, the situation was made worse by the financial markets collapse of 2008, which meant that the plans for redeveloping the ground around a hotel to be built on the Old Dover Road side of the ground had to be put on hold, and for a few years the club’s financial position was extremely precarious. However, by a combination of prudent financial management and support from both the then chairman, George Kennedy, and the ECB, the club weathered the storm, and although nobody would say that the club is wealthy as we move towards 2020, at least the financial position is stable, the non-cricket side of the business is profitable and the new retirement apartments have been completed. The Spitfire Ground, St. Lawrence, may look rather different and even has a different name, but the future of cricket there is assured, at least for the foreseeable future.
At the same time, the club has put a great deal of time and effort into developing the Beckenham ground, which now regularly hosts championship and limited overs matches. It was the scene of Sean Dickson’s extraordinary innings of 318 against Northamptonshire in 2017, the highest score ever made by a Kent player in a home fixture and the first triple hundred for Kent in over 80 years.
Charlotte Edwards
Although the men’s team, as we look into the future, does not fully equal the great achievements of the past, it would be wrong to come to the end of a history of Kent County Cricket Club without mentioning the recent achievements of the Kent Women, who have swept almost everything before them since the turn of the century. Led by one of the truly great women cricketers of all time, Charlotte “Lottie” Edwards, and then by the Player of the 2017 World Cup Tammy Beaumont, Kent won the county championship title seven times in thirteen seasons between 2004 and 2016, and were runners-up five more times. Only in 2013 were they not one of the top two teams in the country. Since 1997, when the Women’s County Championship was set up, Charlotte Edwards has been the leading run-scorer seven times, while two other Kent players, Emily Drumm and Lydia Greenway, have achieved the feat once each. Five different Kent bowlers have been the leading wicket-taker of the season (including Edwards once), and the hugely successful England side has relied on a regular supply of talented women from Kent. In 2016, Kent Women also won the NatWest Women’s T20 for the third time, and completed a remarkable double.
Kent County Cricket Club’s history has been eventful and overall pretty successful. It is now up to those guiding the club into the future to ensure that the high standards set by the great names of the past are equalled and, if possible, surpassed.
The history of Kent Cricket Club will continue, of course…..
Kent Cricket Heritage Trust 
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