Read the thoughts of new Kent head coach Paul Farbrace

New Kent head coach, Paul Farbrace (PF), talks to the Kent website (KW) about his plans for the winter and the return to division one of the LV= County Championship next season.

KW:Paul, thanks for your time. How are you settling in?

PF:I“m really enjoying it. It“s nice to be back here at Canterbury and I“m looking forward to getting stuck into the winter programme with all of the players. I really enjoyed Sri Lanka. It is a lovely country and everyone was really friendly towards me but I“m pleased to be back here and really enjoying my new role.

What are your initial aims?

I want to build relationships with all of the players. I will look at the squad for next season, talk to all of the coaches, about individual players, and work with the fitness and medical staff to ensure that every player has the best possible programme across the winter.

So is it up to the club rather than the individual player to plan their winter schedule?

Everyone is involved. The players, the captain, coaches and the medical staff all play a part in the planning process. The bottom line is to ensure that everyone hits the ground running once we hit pre-season.

What do you do between now and Christmas on a day to day basis?

All of the coaching staff will be planning their programmes and utilising staff to ensure that we put the best possible steps in place. They will also review DVD and video footage of last summer to look at the various player techniques. There are always things that we can work on and improve, so it is a busy period. Then, come the first week of November, all of the coaching begins from the top to the bottom. All the way from the professional cricketers to the under 11“s. We will work with the professional players during the day and then the Academy and age group players in the evening. It certainly isn“t a quiet time!

Will you look to do any player recruitment or are you happy with the squad?

We have a good squad but it would be nice to bolster it. I will play a part in bringing any new players to Kent, along with Rob Key and Graham Johnson (chairman of cricket). We are looking at possible recruitments to bolster the squad for next season and then it“s a case of putting the names to the cricket committee for them to give us the green light, in terms of progressing with possible recruitment. We are working very hard to find good options; we need guys that will fit into the culture and squad that we“ve got here at Canterbury and players that will add quality to our squad.

So where are you looking specifically?

We are looking at bowling options. That is the main focus of our recruitment plans at this stage.

At the back end of last season, younger players got greater opportunities. Will they continue to get more of a go in 2010?

The great thing about last summer was the ability to give youngsters an opportunity in the NatWest Pro40. We used the competition to look at the development of our younger players. Next season, we only have three competitions and it is vital that we are as competitive and successful, as possible, in all three. The balance is putting out the best team and developing the young players, where possible, in those competitions. We need to try and blend players in over a period of time. They will need to prove that they are good enough to hold down their place but that is the aim of every player.

Just finally, how difficult will it be back in division one of the Championship next season?

It will be pretty difficult for us but we are looking forward to the challenge. We are back with the strongest teams and it is where the players want to challenge themselves. They want to play against the best and it will be tough. It will certainly be much harder than the second division but we are up for the challenge. Ultimately, the first division is where the best want to be.