Cook: Every penny counts

Director of cricket Simon Cook believes Kent need to “maximise every single penny” in their budget.

Kent are again preparing to compete in County Championship Division 1 after they narrowly avoided relegation last term on the final day.

With plenty of their divisional rivals earning extra revenue through hosting England men’s matches or Hundred sides - or both - that’s not a luxury Kent presently have. Cook said: “Financially, we’re not going to struggle - but we are going to be competing on an uneven playing field.

“It just means we have got to be a bit smarter with every pound we spend. We just need to make sure that we maximise every single penny. “I hadn’t really taken into account inflation when I’m a bowling coach or going through life but everyone in the country is feeling inflation.”

With Cook having only had one close season in his new role, it’s hard for him to tell if the financial gap between those teams is expanding. He offered some insight on what could potentially be on offer for a player in the T20 Blast compared to other franchise leagues, though.

“It’s difficult for me to tell from that perspective,” Cook said. “I just think, from a cricket perspective, it’s getting harder.

“You can go to the MLC

(Major League Cricket in the United States) and get £175,000 for five games or you can come and play in the Blast for not even a quarter of that, potentially.”

Despite those challenges, Kent have been able to sign overseas fast bowlers Wes Agar and Xavier Bartlett for the first half of this campaign. Cook said: “The challenge of the World Cup, Major League Cricket and all those other franchises - including the IPL - start to creep into our playing window (in England). “Then, it becomes increasingly difficult to get overseas coverage for the vast majority of the year. Having these two locked in until at least the end of July, that’s really positive.”