This is a list of Kent County Cricket Club first-class cricket records; that is, record team and individual performances in first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club.
As of March 2021, Kent have played over 3,000 first-class matches since the official formation of the club in 1842. Over 2,800 of these have been in the County Championship which Kent have been a member of since its inaugural season in 1890. [1] Before August 1842 the county was represented by a number of first-class teams who competed against county sides and other representative teams.
All records last updated 27 June 2023
Kent's highest score in an innings was achieved in 1934 against Essex at Brentwood. Their highest score at a home ground was set in 2017 at Beckenham with Northamptonshire as the opposition. [2] [3] This surpassed the score of 633/8 made in 2015 at Tunbridge Wells against Essex. [4] [5] [6] The county's lowest innings totals all date from the 19th century. [2]
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The highest partnership in Kent's history was 423 runs scored by Jordan Cox and Jack Leaning, set in 2020 at Canterbury against Sussex. This surpassed the previous highest partnership of 382 runs set in 2017. [3] [7] [6] Cox and Leaning's partnership was unbroken when Kent were forced to declare their innings after 120 overs. [lower-alpha 1] [8]
Runs | Players | Opposition | Venue | Season | |
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423* (2nd wicket) [lower-alpha 1] | Jordan Cox (238*) | Jack Leaning (220*) | v Sussex | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | 2020 |
382 (2nd wicket) | Sean Dickson (318) | Joe Denly (182) | v Northamptonshire | County Cricket Ground, Beckenham | 2017 |
368 (4th wicket) | Aravinda de Silva (255) | Graham Cowdrey (137) | v Derbyshire | Mote Park, Maidstone | 1995 |
366 (2nd wicket) | Simon Hinks (234) | Neil Taylor (152*) | v Middlesex | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | 1990 |
352 (2nd wicket) | Bill Ashdown (332) | Frank Woolley (172) | v Essex | Old County Ground, Brentwood | 1934 |
The stand of 235 achieved by Woolley and Fielder in 1909 remains, as of 2023, a record for the 10th wicket in the County Championship.
Five men have made more than 500 appearances for Kent in first-class cricket. [11]
Frank Woolley holds the records for most runs scored for Kent as well as most runs in a season and most centuries in a career with 122, the only player with more than 100 centuries for the county. He made 10 centuries for the county in both the 1928 and 1934 seasons. [7] Arthur Fagg scored two double centuries in a match against Essex at Colchester in 1938, a feat unique in first-class cricket until February 2019. [7] [12]
The highest individual score for the county is 332 runs, achieved by Bill Ashdown against Essex at Brentwood in 1934. Ashdown is one of only three men to have scored more than 300 runs in an innings for the county, doing so twice in his career. [7] Sean Dickson and Daniel Bell-Drummond are the only other triple-centurions for Kent. Dickson scored 318 runs against Northamptonshire in 2017, part of a new record partnership for any wicket for Kent with Joe Denly. The innings was Kent's highest score since the Second World War. [3] [6] [lower-alpha 2] Bell-Drummond made 300 not out in 2023, also against Northants, in a match at Northampton.
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Runs | Player | Opponent | Venue | Season |
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332 | Bill Ashdown | v Essex | Old County Ground, Brentwood | 1934 |
318 | Sean Dickson | v Northamptonshire | County Cricket Ground, Beckenham | 2017 [3] |
305* | Bill Ashdown | v Derbyshire | Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover | 1935 |
300* | Daniel Bell-Drummond | v Northamptonshire | Wantage Road, Northampton | 2023 |
295 | Les Ames | v Gloucestershire | Cheriton Road, Folkestone | 1933 |
Spin bowlers Tich Freeman and Colin Blythe dominate Kent bowling records. Freeman is the leading wicket taker in Kent's history and holds the records for the most 5-for and 10-for innings in first-class cricket. [13] Blythe has the best known figures in an innings for the county, taking 10/30 against Northamptonshire in 1907. [14]
Freeman took 10 wickets in a match for Kent 128 times with Blythe achieving the same feat 64 times. Doug Wright took six first-class hat-tricks for the county during his career as well as one for MCC in 1938/39. His seven hat-tricks is a world best total in first-class cricket. Dean Headley took three hat-tricks in the 1996 season for Kent, equalling the world best. [14] Joseph Wells became the first recorded bowler to take four wickets in four balls for any team when playing for Kent against Sussex in 1862. [14] [15]
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Note: The most wickets taken in a season for Kent by a bowler other than Freeman is 185, by Colin Blythe in 1909. Freeman (14 times), Blythe (eight times), Arthur Fielder (twice) and Frank Woolley (once) are the only men to take 150 wickets or more in a season for Kent. [14]
Bowling | Player | Opponent | Venue | Season |
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10/30 | Colin Blythe | v Northamptonshire | County Cricket Ground, Northampton | 1907 |
10/53 | Tich Freeman | v Essex | Southchurch Park, Southend-on-Sea | 1930 |
10/65 | George Collins | v Nottinghamshire | Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover | 1922 |
10/79 | Tich Freeman | v Lancashire | Old Trafford, Manchester | 1931 |
10/131 | Tich Freeman | v Lancashire | Mote Park, Maidstone | 1929 |
Edmund Hinkly took ten wickets in an innings against England at Lord's in 1848, the first time that the feat of taking all ten wickets in a first-class innings is known to have been achieved in first-class cricket. [16] It is not known how many runs he conceded in doing so. These are the only occasions on which a Kent bowler has taken all 10 wickets in an innings.
Bowling | Player | Opponent | Venue | Season |
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17/48 | Colin Blythe | v Northamptonshire | County Ground, Northampton | 1907 |
17/67 | Tich Freeman | v Sussex | County Ground, Hove | 1922 |
17/92 | Tich Freeman | v Warwickshire | Cheriton Road, Folkestone | 1932 |
16/80 | Doug Wright | v Somerset | Recreation Ground, Bath | 1939 |
16/82 | Tich Freeman | v Northamptonshire | Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells | 1932 |
Hinkly took 16 wickets in the match against England in 1848 but, again, it is not known how many runs he conceded.
As of November 2017, only three players have taken a wicket for Kent with their first ball in first-class cricket for the county: George McCanlis in 1873, Colin Blythe in 1899 and Gerald Hough in 1919. Hough's wicket was the only one he took in his first-class career. [17]
Frank Woolley holds the Kent record for the most catches by a non-wicket-keeper with 773 taken during his long career with the county. James Seymour is the only other man to take more than 500 catches with 659. Chris Tavaré holds the record for the most catches in a season for Kent with 48 taken in 1978. Seymour took 40 or more catches for the county six times during his career. [18]
Kent are known for having produced a line of top-class wicketkeepers. [19] [20] The long-serving Fred Huish, who played for the county between 1895 and 1914, holds the record for the most career dismissals for the county. Huish's nine stumpings in one match in 1911 are a world record, and prior to the 2022 season he and Jack Hubble held the club record for the most dismissals in a match with 10. [18] This was beaten by Sam Billings who took 12 dismissals, setting a new record for the most dismissals in a County Championship match in the process. [21]
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Kent teams have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century, and the club has always held first-class status. The current Kent County Cricket Club was formed on 6 December 1870 following the merger of two representative teams. Kent have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the Supermarine Spitfire.
The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent. It is the home ground of Kent County Cricket Club and since 2013 has been known as The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, due to commercial sponsorship. It is one of the oldest grounds on which first-class cricket is played, having been in use since 1847, and is the venue for Canterbury Cricket Week, the oldest cricket festival in the world. It is one of the two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that have had a tree, the St Lawrence Lime, within the boundary.
Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman was an English first-class cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most prolific wicket-taker in first-class cricket history.
Colin Blythe, also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1904 and took more than 2,500 first-class wickets over the course of his career, one of only 13 men to have done so.
Frank Edward Woolley was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman and a left-arm bowler. He was an outstanding fielder close to the wicket and is the only non wicket-keeper to have held over 1,000 catches in a first-class career, whilst his total number of runs scored is the second highest of all time and his total number of wickets taken the 27th highest.
Arthur Fielder was an English professional cricketer who played as a fast bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team from 1900 to 1914. He played a major role in Kent's four County Championship wins in the years before World War I and toured Australia twice with the England team making six Test match appearances. He was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1907.
Harold Thomas William Hardinge, known as Wally Hardinge, was an English professional sportsman who played both cricket and association football for England. His professional cricket career lasted from 1902 to 1933 during which he played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and made one Test match appearance for England. He was described as being "for years ... one of the leading opening batsmen in England".
Frederick Henry Huish was an English professional cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Kent County Cricket Club in the period before the First World War. Huish played over 450 times for Kent and was part of the sides which won four County championship titles in the Golden Age of cricket leading up to the war. He holds the record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in first-class cricket who did not play a Test match.
James Seymour was an English professional cricketer who played primarily for Kent County Cricket Club in the early years of the 20th century. Seymour made 553 first-class cricket appearances in a career that lasted from 1900 until 1926, scoring over 27,000 runs in his career.
John Charlton Hubble, known as Jack Hubble, was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club in the first half of the 20th century. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper who played professionally for 25 years and was part of the Kent teams which won four County Championships before World War I.
Henry Yarnold, known as Hugo Yarnold, was an English first-class cricketer who became a Test match umpire. He was born at Worcester in 1917.
George Rodney Cass was an English cricketer: a wicket-keeper who played first-class cricket for Essex and Worcestershire in England, and for Tasmania in Australia, in the 1960s and 1970s. He was capped by Worcestershire in 1970. He was born at Overton, Wakefield, Yorkshire, and educated at Dewsbury Technical College.
The Angel Ground was a sports ground at Tonbridge in the English county of Kent. It was used as a venue for first-class cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1869 and 1939 and then for association football by Tonbridge Angels F.C., until 1980. It was subsequently demolished and redeveloped by Tonbridge and Malling District Council in 1980.
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1874 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire earned the title of Champion County in their fourth year playing as a club. Kent joined Lancashire to make the second County side to play first class matches against Derbyshire in 1874. Derbyshire won three first-class matches and drew one, making it the only season in which they never lost a match.
Mote Park, also known as The Mote, is a cricket ground in Maidstone in the English county of Kent. It is inside the grounds of the Mote Park and is owned by The Mote Cricket Club. The ground is also used by the Mote Squash Club and Maidstone rugby club. It was used by Kent County Cricket Club as one of their out-grounds for county cricket matches. The club played over 200 first-class cricket matches on the ground between 1859 and 2005.
Albert Charles Wright was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent in 225 matches between 1921 and 1931.
Kent County Cricket Club's 1906 season was the seventeenth season in which the county competed in the County Championship and saw the side win their first Championship title. Kent played 25 first-class cricket matches during the season, losing only four matches overall, and only two matches in the 1906 County Championship. They finished equal on points with Yorkshire and Surrey but won the title on the percentage of finished matches won.
Kent County Cricket Club's 1909 season was the twentieth season in which the county club competed in the County Championship. Kent played 30 first-class cricket matches during the season, losing only two matches overall, and won their second championship title. They finished clearly ahead of second place Lancashire in the 1909 County Championship with the previous year's winners, Yorkshire, in third place.
Kent County Cricket Club's 1910 season was the 21st season in which the County competed in the County Championship. Kent played 29 first-class cricket matches during the season, losing only five matches overall, and won their third Championship title. They finished well ahead of second place Surrey in the 1910 County Championship.