Story Kent: If at first you don't succeed, try again.

[mattfb]

Kent cricket club​

The Journey started back in 2009. Kent employed a relatively unknown coach in the form of Mattfb. The aim: To get the hell out of division 2 and win some trophys. The result:

The honour board​

Challenge trophy - 2010
Pro League -2013
County Championship - 2019​

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Honourable mentions​

Challenge Trophy:
Runners up - 2021
Semi finals - 2017, 2022
Quarter finals - 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020

Pro League:
Runners up - 2012

County Championship:
Runners up - 2015
Third place - 2018​

I've taken Kent from heart-ache at the bottom of CC and PL, to champions of both as well as CT silverware in 13 seasons. Numerous runners up and 3rd places make me all that more hungry to add to my list of trophy's. The club has seen many a player come and go, with the only survivor of the first season being Joe Denly, now 37 with 18561 career FC runs.

Hall of Fame:​

Current players:
Joe Denly
Andy Granville
Martin James
Adil Rashid

Retired/left
Joseph
Blakeley
Parmar
Ian Bell
Chris Tremlett
Martin Van Jaarsveld
Simon Jones

Records
Highest total: 617 - 2014
Lowest total: 74 - 2015

Highest Innings: A Granville - 238 - 2012
Best Bowling (Innings): A Rashid - 9-126 - 2019
Best Bowling (Match): M Parmar - 13-132 - 2012

Most Runs (Season): J Denly - 1656 - 2011
Most Wickets (Season): A Rashid - 105 - 2019

Currently​

Now in 2023, Kent have struggled in the CC the last 3 seasons after winning it. Finishing 5th, 6th and 6th (only narrowly avoiding relegation last season) we will look to turn that around. We are finally back in Division 1 for PL after a horrid run of form: 16th, 17th, 18th, 13th, 17th, then finally 11th last season (2nd in Division 2 and promotion to division 1)

County Championship: Division 1
Pro League: Division 1

I shall post Monthly or Yearly updates.

 

[Highlander999]

So...urm? What you actually doing, continuing from 2019?

 

[mattfb]

I'm up to 2023. I really wish I could go back to 2014 and such and see my squad, their stats, my performances and so on so I created this thread to keep track. I'll probably post monthly updates of how I'm going and so forth.

I'll edit the first post

 

[surendar]

" If at first you don't succeed, try again. " - Not only at first attempt, but at every failure, there should be a success attempt after that.

Ya, good luck to this story

 

[Prithvi]

" If at first you don't succeed, try again. " - Not only at first attempt, but at every failure, there should be a success attempt after that.

Ya, good luck to this story

I echo this!

BTW, good luck Matt.

 

[mattfb]

Cheers guys.

-------------------------------------------------------------

April & May 2023​

County Championship​

Hampshire vs Kent - Hampshire win by 15 runs
Fallis 72 & 77
Keen 81
Rashid 3/75 & 3/36
Moore 4/48

Nottinghamshire vs Kent - Draw
Fallis 156
Johns 138
Granville 83
Rashid 5/71
Wallace 4/98

Kent vs Sussex - Draw
Keen 98
Granville 68
Dial 5/96​

Position: 8th​

1. Sussex - 49
2. Derbyshire - 43
3. Nottinghamshire - 41
4. Yorkshire - 39
5. Essex - 37
6. Hampshire - 35
7. Gloucestershire - 26
---------------------------------
8. KENT - 19
9. Surrey - 17


Comments:
A disappointing start to the season. We've barely received any points from our 2 draws and we are still searching for that first win. Some poor batting efforts ruined us the chance of winning the first match as we collapsed horrendously. In the second match we had to follow on but pulled out 540 in our second innings and almost won it which was a decent effort. Still early days but I'd like a win.


Challenge Trophy

Kent vs Scotland - Kent win by 127 runs
Fallis 111
Johns 93
Dolley 5/22
Rashid 3/29

Kent vs Somerset - Kent win by 23 runs
Keen 66
Denly 51
Wallace 3/35
Rashid 3/39

Kent vs Warwickshire - Kent win by 6 wickets
Dolley 4/43
Dial 3/46
Johns 60*
Rashid 49*

Kent vs Middlesex - Middlesex win by 48 runs
Wallace 3/29
Rashid 3/40
Fallis 55

Kent vs Scotland - Kent win by 82 runs
Keen 101
James 65*
Fallis 64
Crayshaw 4/55
Dolley 3/43

Kent vs Somerset - Somerset win by 37 runs
Crayshaw 3/25
Rashid 3/34 & 27

Kent vs Warwickshire - Kent win by 53 runs
Keen 108
Granville 53*
Dial 4/44

Kent vs Middlesex - Kent win by 82 runs
Granville 80
Fallis 72
Rashid 7/32 PERFORMANCE OF THE MONTH(s)

QUATER FINAL - Kent vs Worcestershire - Kent win by 87 runs
Granville 67*
Fallis 52
Dolley 5/40
Wallace 3/53

SEMI FINAL - Kent vs Yorkshire - 5th July 2023


1. KENT - 12
2. Warwickshire - 10
---------------------
3. Somerset - 10
4. Middlesex - 8
5. Scotland - 0

Comments:
Well, I think it's fair to see the CT was much more successful than the 4 day stuff. One of my best performances in the group stages for years I need to capitalise and at least reach the final. I've made it to the Quarters at least the last 4 years, but only the finals once. Now I'm in the Semi's, where I bundled out last year. A finals appearance would be great.​

 

[Aditya]

Exciting! Stick to this story matt,i enjoy your stories just stick to them and update them regularly. Best of luck for this story.

 

[blake]

Been a long journey at the helm of Kent.. hopefully you can reclaim some of that former glory where you won the County Championship!

Good luck.

 

[mattfb]

June & July 2023​

County Championship

Kent vs Surrey - Kent win by 160 runs
James 110 & 51
Granville 66 & 73
Johns 77
Wallace 4/71
Dolley 3/88 & 4/76

Kent vs Essex - Kent win by 6 wickets
Rashid 5/76
Wallace 3/27
Fallis 96
James 54

Kent vs Gloucestershire - Draw
James 112
Keen 84 & 59
Fallis 58
Rashid 5/79

Kent vs Yorkshire - Kent win by 296 runs
Granville 119
Dial 82
Keen 72
Wallace 6/29
Rashid 7/49 - OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF THE MONTH(s)

Kent vs Nottinghamshire - Notts win by an innings & 48 runs
Denly 79
Fallis 55 & 50
Rashid 5/165

Kent vs Sussex - Kent win by 365 runs
Granville 126
Johns 125
Denly 88
Rashid 4/30 & 5/24

Position: 4th

1. Derbyshire - 151
2. Sussex - 144
3. Nottinghamshire - 113
4. KENT - 111
5. Yorkshire - 104
6. Gloucestershire - 103
7. Essex - 96
---------------------------------
8. Hampshire - 87
9. Surrey - 76

Comments:
A much better two months for us in the CC as we climbed well out of the drop zone. We'll need to string together another 2 or so wins to secure our survival though. The disappointment was without a doubt the innings loss. I don't know what happened, we just fell apart. Apart from that I've been impressed with my batsmen who have made a massive improvement from last year were there was only THREE 100's scored for our team.

22yo opener Keen is going good at the top and scoring some runs, but struggling to go on with it. Granville is finding his old form which saw him become one of Kents greatest players, and James has been amazingly important when not on international duty. Johns is also recapturing his form of 2 years ago where he top scored for us.

Challenge Trophy

SEMI FINAL - Kent vs Yorkshire - Kent win by 5 wickets
Rashid 4/71
Johns 66*
Fallis 56

FINAL - Kent vs Sussex - Kent win by 122 runs
James 76*
Keen 49
Dial 3/20
Crayshaw 2/16
Wallace 2/2-

Comments:
We've done it! For the second time since I've taken over we've won the CT! And how we did it with ease! Great performance all round in the final with all the bowlers chipping in as we bowled Sussex out for just 108. After all the heart-ache of Semi final and Final appearances but nothing to show, we've won it again.

My 4th piece of silverware since taking over.

Pro League

Kent vs Gloucestershire - Kent win by 6 wickets
Dial 3/41
Wallace 3/16
Crayshaw 3/18
Granville 39*

Kent vs Surrey - Kent win by 25 runs
Granville 58*
Denly 54
Dolley 5/40

Comments:
Started with 2 wins but neither was very convincing. Our bowling, like always, won us the games.

My Youths
With my new youths coming through I thought I'd show you my current ones I have:

20 Year olds
J Tennyson - RMF: Seconds Career: 185 @ 18.84 < Got last season

21 Year Olds
W Poole - RF: Seconds career: 58 @ 30.09 < Got this season
T Jacklin - RMF: Seconds career: 74 @ 18. 41 < Got this season

22 Year Olds
G Moore - LMF: Seconds Career: 311 @ 21.12
: First Class Career: 27 @ 39 < Got last season
F Keen - RHB (o): Seconds Career: 1696 @ 60.57
: First Class Career: 2515 @ 39.92 < Got last season

24 Year Olds
J Dial - RFM: FC Career: 154 @ 37
: OD Career: 83 @ 28.87

M Crayshaw - RFM: FC Career: 73 @ 40
: OD Career: 72 @ 27.29

Tennyson looks the most promising here, but Keen is already an established member in my team. A couple of bad games has seen his FC average drop below 40, but I'm fully confident he can finish his career with an average of 23+. Dial is also an established member, but inconsistency means he goes a few games without getting wickets and getting smashed, hence his poor average.

Out of the youths I got this season, Jacklin looks promising, but Poole a little too loose. Hopefully with the right training he may develop well.​

 

[Jakester1288]

Loving the stats based updates, helping me get more info than I usually get from the MSN convo's.

 

[surendar]

100+ margin to win a final? That's excellent. You should be given a coaching job for England team. Keep up the neat/good works.

 

[mattfb]

August & September 2023​

County Championship​

Kent vs Derbyshire - Derbyshire win by 9 wickets
Wallce 3/46
Keen 56
Johns 51

Kent vs Essex - Kent win by 2 wickets
Rashid 4/46 & 86
Johns 104
Dial 4/33
Dolley 4/68

Kent vs Gloucestershire - Gloucestershire win by 8 wickets
Granville 91
Johns 67
Keen 63
Rashid 5/115

Kent vs Hampshire - Kent win by 10 runs
Denly 92
Granville 62
Dial 4/44 and 3/70

Kent vs Yorkshire - Draw
Fallis 104
Granville 66*
Rashid 4/48
Tennyson 3/36

Kent vs Surrey - Draw
Fallis 124 & 51
Rashid 116
Granville 103
Wallce 4/53

Kent vs Derbyshire - Kent win by 157 runs
Granville 137* & 85
James 134
Dolley 4/68 and 3/60

Final Position: 4th

1. Derbyshire - 265
2. Sussex - 219
3. Nottinghamshire - 206
4. KENT - 193
5. Yorkshire - 193
6. Gloucestershire - 157
7. Hampshire - 156
------------------------------
8. Essex - 147
9. Surrey - 137

Comments:
Well it ended a fairly good season in FC. The inconsistency was really annoying though, but we managed to pull enough points together to get way above the drop zone and in a respectable position. This was our best finish since winning the league in 2019 which is pleasing. We need to strengthen the batting though and try to get more big scores, far too many times we relied fully on our bowlers to win us matches. I'll probably let my international bowler Dolley go in place of a batsmen to make the squad stronger ahead of the new season.


Pro League:

Kent vs Derbyshire - Derbyshire win by 6 wickets
Granville 42

Kent vs Northamptonshire - Northamptonshire win by 5 wickets
Granville 50
Dolley 2/31

Kent vs Sussex - Tie
Crayshaw 4/48
Granville 95*
Johns 49

Kent vs Somerset - Kent win by 7 wickets
Wallace 4/33
Rashid 3/21
Denly 47

Kent vs Warwickshire - Warwickshire win by 14 runs
Rashid 4-45 & 48

Kent vs Glamorgan - Glamorgan win by 23 runs
Rashid 4/37

PLAY OFF: Kent vs Hampshire - Hampshire win by 5 wickets
Granville 40
Dial 2/32

1. Surrey - 12
2. Northamptonshire - 10
3. Derbyshire - 10
4. Gloucestershire - 10
5. Sussex 9
6. Glamorgan - 8
---------
7. KENT - 7
---------
8. Warwickshire - 6
9. Somerset 0

Comments:
Well thats disappointing. Our batting fell apart the last 2 games. If we beat Glamorgan we would of stayed up, but our batting collapsed. Same thing happened in the play offs. And so because of that, we are back in division 2 for PL.

Season stats
First Class - Batting
Aaron Fallis: 1581 @ 49.41
Andy Granville: 1461 @ 50.39
Frank Keen: 1088 @ 36.27
Andy Johns: 1071 @ 36.93
Martin James: 979 @ 48.80
Adil Rashid: 763 @ 25.43
Joe Denly: 747 @ 33.95
George Dial: 335 @ 18.61
David Murphy: 149 @ 18.62

First Class Bowling
Adil Rashid: 82 @ 20.92
Jeff Dial: 54 @ 29.57
Henry Wallace: 46 @ 30.09
Corbyn Dolley 42 @ 34.21
Gerald Moore: 22 @ 29.73
Robin Tennyson: 12 @ 42.67

One Day Batting
Andy Granville: 744 @ 57.23
Aaron Fallis: 692 @ 34.60
Frank Keen: 590 @ 29.50
Andy Johns: 569 @ 37.93
Joe Denly: 386 @ 29.69
Adil Rashid: 340 @ 30.91
Martin James: 314 @ 31.40

One Day Bowling
Adil Rashid: 51 @ 15.14
Henry Wallace: 37 @ 16.18
Corbyn Dolley: 37 @ 20.11
Jeff Dial: 28 @ 22.21
Mark Crayshaw: 24 @ 25.21

Club Best​

Top score: Fallis 156
Most Runs: Fallis 1581
Best Bowling (Innings): Rashid 7-49
Most wickets: Rashid 82​

Year     CC          PL           CT
2023     4th   7th, relegated     Winners