Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Walker: This win tops the lot
Head coach Matt Walker says guiding Kent Spitfires to T20 Blast glory was the highlight of his career.
Walker had been involved as a player the last time Kent won the competition in 2007, top-scoring in the final, but felt more like a proud parent as he watched from the sidelines as the Spitfires beat Somerset at
Edgbaston in Saturday’s final.
After retiring, Walker re-joined Kent from Essex in 2014, initially as assistant coach, before he took the top job in 2017.
He said: “As a player, at the time and since that day in 2007, I think that has always been the most rewarding day in my playing career. I was fortunate enough to win three trophies with Kent and they were always special days.
“But this is a very different emotion. You are like a proud parent, actually.
“With some of the players, I have known them since they were 15 or 16 because I have spent a long time with Kent, albeit with a brief spell at Essex in between. I feel so much more emotional than I did in 2007.
“The special bit about winning is that it’s for everybody everybody who works so hard behind the scenes and the guys that came in for the two Covid games after our T20 win against Surrey and did very well.
“Overall I think this is the highlight of my career, without doubt.”
Walker hopes, now the squad has tasted success, they will be hungry for more in the years to come.
He said: “I think that’s the difference between the 2007 side and now. That team was ageing in some ways.
“I left the club in 2008 when I was 34. Justin Kemp left in 2009 as well, although Keysy (thencaptain Rob Key) played on for a few more years. It was an ageing group - but this side is not.
“Apart from Darren Stevens and Joe Denly who are the two older heads, the rest of them are all at an age where they could have 10 more years here - if they choose to stay at the club.
“I feel that it should be the start of a period of relative success.
“It is never that easy, and the opposition certainly doesn’t get easier, but the first hurdle is always the biggest hurdle. After that, hopefully, it becomes a little easier.
“We were the chasers this year and we will now be chased by everyone else, so we need to embrace that as well.”
Walker also hailed the impact director of cricket Paul Downton has made since he joined Kent in 2018.
He said: “2018 was where it all started at the club for us as a group, really.
“We set our stall out and I was able to make my mark on the group.
“Paul Downton changed the landscape very dramatically, and we had an amazing year in 2018 where, probably, some of it came a bit too soon.
“Now, it’s important that we acknowledge and realise that this group is a side capable of doing amazing things.”