Kent County Cricket Club in 2020 explained

Club:	Kent County Cricket Club
Season:	2020
Coach:	Matthew Walker
Captain:	Sam Billings
Ground:	St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury
Comp1:	Bob Willis Trophy
Comp1 Result:	2nd, South Group
Comp2:	Vitality Blast
Comp2 Result:	Quarter-finals
Prevseason:	2019
Nextseason:	2021

In 2020 Kent County Cricket Club were scheduled to compete in Division One of the County Championship, the Royal London One-Day Cup and the 2020 t20 Blast. However, the season was heavily disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, with no county cricket fixtures played until August.^[1] For the shortened season, the majority of counties voted on 7 July to play first-class and Twenty20 cricket,^[2] with the Royal London One-Day Cup being cancelled.^[3] Instead of the County Championship this year, the 18 first-class counties competed for the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy, which consisted of three regional groups of six teams and a final at Lord's.^[4]

The season was the fourth in charge for head coach, and former player, Matthew Walker. Former Kent bowler Simon Cook became the new bowling coach after a spell as head coach of the Hong Kong national team, replacing South African Allan Donald who left the county at the end of the previous season.^{[5] [6]} Former England all-rounder Michael Yardy joined Kent as the new batting coach in February 2020.^[7] Sam Billings retained the club captaincy that he was first awarded in 2018.^[8] Billings and vice-captain Joe Denly both spent time away with England squads throughout the season, and so Daniel Bell-Drummond captained the side on several occasions.^[9]

The delayed start of the season and the resulting loss of income meant that, like many other counties, Kent decided to cancel contracts for their overseas signings.^[10] New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry had been due to return for the first part of the season after a highly successful spell with the county in 2018.^{[11] [12]} Meanwhile, Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi had signed to play for the county in the t20 Blast for a second successive year.^{[13] [14]}

Squad

Batsman Alex Blake signed a new white-ball (limited overs) contract with the county in January 2020, becoming the first homegrown player to sign such a deal with Kent.^[15]

Departures

Mitchell Claydon left Kent after seven years with the team, to join Sussex at the end of the 2019 season.^[16] In July 2020, batsman Sean Dickson departed the club to join Durham, initially on loan for the 2020 season.^[17] On 30 July, wicket-keeper Adam Rouse announced his retirement from cricket at the age of 28, after having played four seasons with Kent.^[18]

All-rounder Calum Haggett and bowler Ivan Thomas were both released by the club after their contracts expired in October.^{[19] [20]}

Arrivals

In August 2019, Kent announced that they had signed Yorkshire all-rounder Jack Leaning on a three-year contract from October 2019.^[21] In September 2019, Kent announced the signings of teenage Afghan-born England Under-19 off-spinner Hamidullah Qadri from Derbyshire on a three-year deal.^[22] A few days later, the county also announced the signing of 35 year-old seamer Tim Groenewald from Somerset on a two-year deal from 2020.^[23]

Zimbabwean-born 20-year old fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist, who had yet to play a senior match, joined Kent in August, initially on loan from Somerset ahead of signing a three-year contract.^[24]

Squad list

• Ages given as of the first day of the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy, 1 August 2020.

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Notes
Batsmen
4			August 1, 2020	Right-handed	—	Kolpak signing
6			August 1, 2020	Right-handed		Vice-captain
10			August 1, 2020	Left-handed		White-ball contract only
16			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
23			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
34			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
All-rounders
3			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
9			August 1, 2020	Right-handed		EU passport holder
25			August 1, 2020	Left-handed
55			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
Wicket-keepers
7			August 1, 2020	Right-handed	—	Club captain
21			August 1, 2020	Right-handed	—
22			August 1, 2020	Right-handed	—
Bowlers
1			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
5			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
11			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
17			August 1, 2020	Left-handed		On loan from Somerset for 2020; UK passport
18			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
29			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
34			August 1, 2020	Right-handed
75			August 1, 2020	Right-handed

Bob Willis Trophy

Matches played in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy had first-class status, but there were some differences to the playing conditions compared to the County Championship. The minimum number of overs in a day was reduced to 90, the follow-on increased from 150 runs to 200, the new ball was to be available after 90 overs instead of 80, and each team's first innings was restricted to a maximum of 120 overs.^[25] Kent's first match of the delayed season began on 1 August against Essex at Chelmsford.^[26]

Matches

t20 Blast

Matches

Quarter-final

Statistics

Batting

First-class (Bob Willis Trophy)!Player!Matches!Innings!!Runs!!!!!!!!

	4	6	1	324		64.80	53.02	1	0	0	39	4
	5	8	1	279		39.85	52.14	1	0	2	36	0
	5	8	3	216		43.20	45.00	0	1	0	32	0
	2	4	1	202		67.33	57.71	1	0	0	25	2
	5	9	1	185		23.12	54.89	0	0	0	25	0
	5	6	0	138		23.00	57.02	0	1	1	21	1
	4	6	0	129		21.50	61.72	0	1	0	15	2
	1	2	0	105		52.50	97.22	1	0	1	18	0
	4	6	0	96		16.00	43.83	0	0	0	14	0
	1	1	0	89		89.00	57.79	0	1	0	14	0
	3	3	1	79		39.50	91.86	0	0	0	12	1
	5	6	0	77		12.83	56.20	0	0	2	11	1
	1	2	0	38		19.00	48.10	0	0	0	7	0
	2	1	0	20		20.00	50.00	0	0	0	4	0
	4	5	2	11		3.66	26.19	0	0	2	1	0
	2	2	1	3		3.00	20.00	0	0	1	0	0
	1	1	1	0				0	0	0	0	0
	1	0

Source: Cricinfo^[27]

Twenty20 (t20 Blast)!Player!Matches!Innings!!Runs!!!!!!!!

	11	11	1	423		42.30	154.94	0	3	0	53	12
	11	11	2	342		38.00	156.88	1	1	0	43	7
	11	9	3	201		33.50	138.62	0	1	0	18	6
	11	9	1	171		21.37	134.64	0	1	0	11	8
	6	6	0	152		25.33	142.05	0	0	0	11	6
	8	8	2	104		17.33	118.18	0	0	1	11	0
	3	3	0	86		28.66	132.30	0	1	0	8	2
	11	9	3	79		13.16	98.75	0	0	0	3	3
	8	6	2	75		18.75	122.95	0	0	1	6	2
	3	1	1	15			107.14	0	0	0	1	0
	11	1	1	8			88.88	0	0	0	0	0
	4	2	2	7			87.50	0	0	0	1	0
	10	3	2	6		6.00	85.71	0	0	0	0	0
	2	1	1	1			33.33	0	0	0	0	0
	11	0

Source: CricInfo^[28]

Bowling

First-class (Bob Willis Trophy)!Player!Matches!Innings!Overs!Maidens!Runs!Wickets!!!!!!!

	5	10	209.0	64	452	29			15.58	2.16	43.2	3	0
	3	6	117.3	30	307	19			16.15	2.61	37.1	1	0
	4	8	119.3	29	355	15			23.66	2.97	47.8	0	0
	5	7	62.1	5	255	8			31.87	4.10	46.6	0	0
	4	8	95.5	19	299	5			59.80	3.12	115.0	0	0
	1	2	27.0	6	80	4			20.00	2.96	40.5	0	0
	2	4	30.0	3	136	4			34.00	4.53	45.0	0	0
	1	2	28.0	5	119	2			59.50	4.25	84.0	0	0
	4	5	38.4	7	104	1			104.00	2.68	232.0	0	0
	5	1	2.0	1	2	0				1.00		0	0
	1	1	2.0	0	12	0				6.00		0	0
	5	2	5.0	0	22	0				4.40		0	0
	1	2	9.0	1	52	0				5.77		0	0

Source: CricInfo^[29]

Twenty20 (t20 Blast)!Player!Matches!Innings!Overs!Maidens!Runs!Wickets!!!!!!

	11	11	40.4	0	374	13		28.76	9.19	18.7	0	0
	11	11	41.0	0	329	11		29.90	8.02	22.3	0	0
	10	10	37.0	0	338	7		48.28	9.13	31.7	0	0
	11	11	37.4	0	329	6		54.83	8.73	37.6	0	0
	4	4	15.0	0	119	4		29.75	7.93	22.5	0	0
	6	6	21.0	0	166	3		55.33	7.90	42.0	0	0
	3	3	9.0	0	93	2		46.50	10.33	27.0	0	0
	11	5	6.0	0	43	0		–	7.16	–	0	0
	11	5	7.0	0	60	0		–	8.57	–	0	0

Source: CricInfo^[30]

External links

• Kent home at ESPN cricinfo
• Kent County Cricket Club official site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Domestic season delayed until 1 August because of coronavirus . BBC Sport . 28 May 2020 . 24 July 2020.
2. Web site: Counties vote to play red and white ball cricket when season starts on 1 August . BBC Sport . 7 July 2020 . 24 July 2020.
3. Web site: Counties could be offered opt-out as Hampshire express red-ball reservations . ESPN Cricinfo . 7 July 2020 . 24 July 2020.
4. Web site: First-class counties to compete for Bob Willis Trophy . ESPN Cricinfo . 10 July 2020 . 24 July 2020.
5. Web site: Allan Donald: South Africa Test legend to leave Kent at season's end . BBC Sport . 8 August 2019 . 24 July 2020.
6. Web site: Cook relishing new role as Bowling Coach . Kent County Cricket Club . 22 October 2019 . 24 July 2020.
7. Web site: Mike Yardy: Kent appoint former England one-day all-rounder as batting coach . BBC Sport . 29 February 2020 . 24 July 2020.
8. Web site: Sam Billings: England limited-overs player replaces Sam Northeast as Kent captain . BBC Sport . 17 January 2018 . 24 July 2020.
9. Web site: Kent batsman Bell-Drummond leads way as Kent tie with Middlesex in Vitality Blast thriller at Lord's . The Times . 30 August 2020 . 30 August 2020.
10. Web site: Counties remain hopeful of two overseas players for 2021 . ESPN Cricinfo . 4 June 2020 . 24 July 2020.
11. Web site: Matt Henry: Kent re-sign New Zealand paceman for start of 2020 season . BBC Sport . 27 January 2020 . 24 July 2020.
12. Web site: Matt Henry: Kent cancel deal for New Zealand pace bowler . BBC Sport . 15 April 2020 . 24 July 2020.
13. Web site: Mohammad Nabi: Afghanistan all-rounder to rejoin Kent for T20 Blast . BBC Sport . 13 November 2019 . 24 July 2020.
14. Web site: Mohammad Nabi: Kent T20 return cancelled after coronavirus delay . BBC Sport . 29 May 2020 . 24 July 2020.
15. Web site: Alex Blake: Kent batsman signs new white-ball deal until 2022 . BBC Sport . 24 January 2020 . 24 July 2020.
16. Web site: Mitch Claydon: Kent seamer to leave after seven years for Sussex in 2020 . BBC Sport . 9 September 2019 . 24 July 2020.
17. Web site: Sean Dickson: Durham sign opener from Kent . BBC Sport . 21 July 2020 . 24 July 2020.
18. Web site: Rouse retires from cricket . Kent County Cricket Club . 30 July 2020 . 30 July 2020.
19. Web site: Calum Haggett: Kent all-rounder to leave after seven years with club . BBC Sport . 7 October 2020 . 7 October 2020.
20. Web site: Ivan Thomas: Kent release fast bowler . BBC Sport . 9 October 2020 . 9 October 2020.
21. Web site: Jack Leaning: Kent sign Yorkshire batsman on three-year contract from 2020 . BBC Sport . 24 August 2019 . 24 July 2020.
22. Web site: Hamidullah Qadri: Kent sign Derbyshire & England U19 off-spinner on three-year contract . BBC Sport . 24 September 2019 . 24 July 2020.
23. Web site: Tim Groenewald: Seamer leaves Somerset to join Kent on two-year deal . BBC Sport . 27 September 2019 . 24 July 2020.
24. https://www.somersetcountycc.co.uk/tag/nathan-gilchrist/ Nathan joins Kent
25. Web site: Everything you need to know about the Bob Willis Trophy . England and Wales Cricket Board . 24 July 2020 . 24 July 2020.
26. Web site: Bob Willis Trophy fixtures 2020: Full schedule, dates, matches . The Cricketer . 24 July 2020.
27. Web site: Season 2020 - Kent / Records / First-class matches / Most runs . ESPNcricinfo . 10 September 2020 .
28. Web site: Season 2020 - Kent / Records / Twenty20 matches / Most runs . ESPNcricinfo . 29 October 2020 .
29. Web site: Season 2020 - Kent / Records / First-class matches / Most wickets . ESPNcricinfo . 10 September 2020 .
30. Web site: Season 2020 - Kent / Records / Twenty20 matches / Most wickets . ESPNcricinfo . 29 October 2020 .