Fight for places to bring out the best
Joe Denly says competition for places at the top of Kent’s Championship batting order will raise standards after the disappointment of last summer, writes Alex Hoad. Denly, who turned 30 this month, says improvements need to be made if Kent are to have any hopes of competing for promotion from Specsavers County Championship Division 2 – particularly in the batting ranks. He said: “We’ve sat down in pre-season and spoken about plans for this summer. Overall we were disappointed with last season, especially with red ball cricket. We recognise that improvements need to be made. “Our record at home was unacceptable – we didn’t win a game – and that’s something we’ve got to put right. “We need improvements everywhere, the bowling and the batting. First innings batting points compared to other counties need to be a lot better and collectively as a batting unit big improvements need to be made.” Kent have added New Zealand Test opener Tom Latham to their ranks this season with Denly joining skipper Sam Northeast, England Lions man Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sean Dickson – who averaged 56 in his three-match late season cameo – and Rob Key, who scored 461 runs in his final five innings of last summer, in the fight for playing time. He added: “Everyone understands that the competition this year is a bit tougher than last year. That’s addressing the fact that the way people performed last year was probably not good enough. “Reinforcing that batting line-up and selection issues for the captain and coach is only a good thing. Everyone in that top five or six is under pressure to perform and cement their place in the team. Hopefully, that will promote some good performances.” Although the Championship opener at Worcester is not until Sunday week (April 10), Denly says Kent’s campaign begins in earnest with Tuesday’s three-day curtainraiser against Loughborough MCCU. He said: “We spoke about not looking too far ahead to the Worcester game, approaching that Loughborough game as our first game of the season. It’s a First Class fixture and we’ll be looking to hit the ground running, win the game and win it well. “We say we have got a young squad but I don’t think we can use that as an excuse. “The players we’ve got have played quite a bit of First Class cricket now. It’s time, not just for them, but for the senior players to step up, too. “It’s time for guys to realise they’re not really up-and-coming players, they are estabished first team players and it’s time to do the business.”