Kent had as good a case as Hampshire

I MUST take issue with Derek Pringle's comments on the Durham situation as it affects Hampshire and Kent.

He suggests that Hampshire have the strongest case to play Division One cricket next season. How so? They have had only two seasons in the top flight.

Last year they missed the drop at the last gasp by two points and this year they should have been relegated. Hardly an impressive record.

He says that Kent’s claim to promotion seems tenuous because two down and one up was known at the beginning of the season. But what was not known then was that it would be three down and one up. The logic for now making it three down and two up is inescapable.

Kent also get accused by him of trying to benefit from the situation. But the Hampshire chairman, Rod Bransgrove, is quoted as saying:“We’ve benefited from somebody else’s misfortune.”

If it’s OK for Hampshire, why not for Kent?

There is also a veiled threat in his article that taking legal action could be expensive.

If Kent want to spend their money on lawyers what business is it of his or anybody else’s?

If the ECB is found to have acted ultra vires by saving Hampshire, then the financial benefit to Kent will far outweigh the legal costs. ANTHONY HODGES

Broadstairs GRUDGING admiration to Hampshire’s Mr Bransgrove.

In the immediate aftermath of the Durham relegation he set the agenda as “Hampshire reprieved” before anyone questioned it.

JOHN REID, Maidstone