New batting coach Toby Radford has praised the work ethic and open-mindedness of Kent’s players.
Radford, who held a similar position with the West Indies national team and previously was a head coach of Middlesex and Glamorgan, has thrown himself into life in Canterbury since he started earlier this year.
On what he’s made of the current crop, the Welshman said: “The work ethic has been fantastic.
“They’ve been very professional and technically very good, as well as open-minded which, obviously, is nice for a coach. It means that they have got what I would call a real coachability.
“They’re wanting to improve, wanting to work on areas, and I’ve got a good knowledge of their game.
“I tend to video a lot of stuff, so I use video analysis and then show them areas where I can see (for) improvements. Coaching is a process, isn’t it?
“You kind of start on things now.
“As the season goes on, hopefully, they will improve.”
Radford replaces Alex Gidman, who has taken up a position with England Women’s side, having previously worked with newly-appointed Kent director of cricket Simon Cook at Middlesex.
The 52-year-old has also spent time with Kent wicketkeeper and T20 Blast skipper Sam Billings and exciting young all-rounder Joey Evison in recent years.
“The last couple of years, I’ve been doing a lot of my own stuff,” Radford explained. “I’d been out in Bangladesh and the Pakistan Junior League.
“I’d worked a lot with Simon Cook at Middlesex. We’ve stayed in touch over a long period of time and we’ve been fairly close.
“When Alex Gidman decided to take the role with the (England) Women, the job came up and he said ‘Is this something that you would be interested in applying for?’ It got me thinking ‘Yeah, I would like to get back into the county game.’
“I came down and interviewed. I’d been working with Joey Evison here and I’d been working with Sam Billings, and I’d always liked the environment.
“It’s a very welcoming club.
“That’s how it came about. Then, I started in January.”
Radford took vice-captain Jack Leaning, batsman Tawanda Muyeye and Evison – as well as bowlers Matt Parkinson and Nathan Gilchrist – out to Mumbai, India, in early March for some pre-season training work.
“It was a great trip,” the coach enthused. “We had a small group – it was only five players, plus myself.
“There were a lot of good quality net bowlers and spin bowlers, as you can imagine in India.
“There was good weather and we had the ability to bat five hours a day. Literally, you could bat for as long as you wanted, so we could get a lot out of it technically.
“We practised a lot of sweeping, using our feet to the spinners. If we can get the ball to spin a bit this year with Parky (Parkinson), then our batters are going to have to play on those pitches, as well.
“If it does turn, you’ve got to have a good method against it.
“I think we got a lot out of it.”
Radford had already spent time with some of Kent’s players at their indoor facility during the close season but felt there was much more to take from getting his new charges training outside.
He said: “There’s only so much you can do in an indoor school because the surfaces are very flat.
“Yes, you can do a lot of good work in terms of (facing) pace and swing. But you do need the beauty of getting on grass for 10 days in Mumbai and for about 30 hours over each week, which was great.
“The quality of bowlers we have faced was ideal.”
