Coach’s Corner – Farby’s Blog – 13 September

Well, with three days to go in the current season it looks as though the pink ball and floodlights have split opinion. I was quite interested in the quirky idea last Monday when it was mentioned that it might happen, but the closer we got to the start the more nervous I became. Yesterday was not the best cricket watching day and I hope that with better weather today we might get more people in. it would be a shame if people stayed away because of the experiment, although opinion is certainly split in our dressing room.

Let’s see how the next three days play out, and with a Kookaburra ball being used in the second innings, we still have more to learn.

Charlie Shreck has agreed to join us from next season, he will not only bring a high level of skill to our team, but also his experience will be vital on and off the field with our young bowlers who are all making steady progress. Charlie is a hard working professional and I`m sure will do very well for Kent over the next few years.

The defeat at Derby was quite disappointing, we played some good cricket, but equally the runs they scored in the first innings probably in the end was the difference between the two teams. Joe played a fantastic first innings, he has been in great touch in the last month or so. There has been plenty said and written about Joe and his future, he has taken his time to decide on the right course of action for him. I don’t blame him for that, but from a cricket point of view we have always wanted him to be a part of Kent Cricket for many years to come. He is Kent through and through and is a high quality player, and if he does leave it will be a very sad day for Kent Cricket.

Sam has committed to the Club for another season, he has played so well in one day cricket this year and has shown how good a player he will become. I have no problem with him only signing for one year, and hope that next year he goes from strength to strength and scores many more runs over the coming years at Canterbury.

As for the other out of contract players, I really do hope that these discussions are concluded soon and everybody can get on with looking at what next year looks like.

There will be a lot of reflection time for us all over the next month or so, I plan to have a couple of weeks around the Club getting things organised before a brief holiday somewhere.

Next week will be my final blog for the season, I will hopefully continue to do a blog during the winter, if circumstances allow.

Best wishes,

Farby.