Kent director of cricket Simon Cook hopes the short-term pain of County Championship relegation can lead to long-term gains for the county.
Having finished bottom of Division 1, Kent return to the second-tier of red-ball cricket this summer for the first time since 2018.
Even prior to relegation, it had been a tough slog for Kent in the top flight of red-ball cricket in recent years against counties with better financial backing.
They only moved away from the bottom two late in 2022, as they eventually finished fifth, before a final-day escape 12 months later.
Cook pointed to the example of Sussex, promoted from Division 2 as 2024 champions under Ash-born head coach Paul Farbrace.
He said: “That’s the really tough thing about being in this division with where we sit.
“This is a generalism but I saw a quote from another club where success is just viewed as staying in Division 1. It’s about survival and I’m not really sure that’s the way you should play cricket.
“You want to be playing cricket to win tournaments. Sometimes, you have to have short-term pain to be able to develop a long-term strategy.
“Sussex are just on that upward curve. With [23-time Division 1 winners] Surrey, I think it’s taken 15 years to get to where they’re at.
“When I’d just finished playing, they were very much down in the doldrums and it’s taken a long time to get them up and running, and being the powerhouse that they are. That’s what we need to do.
“We need to get an oversupply of good players that want to be out there, playing, winning games for Kent and winning championships.”
Life in Division 2 could, potentially, provide more regular first-team opportunities for Kent’s young players, including the likes of 23-year-old batsman Tawanda Muyeye, to impress and perform consistently.
Cook said: “You can look at how Tawanda plays and try to say ‘Don’t play so many shots’ and that sort of stuff but, for me, it’s more about his game plans and how he executes.
“He’ll get better and better at that. He’s such an exciting player to watch. When he goes out to bat, I guarantee that everyone in the ground is going to sit down and watch.
“Against Nottinghamshire, he put us into a position where we had a glimmer of hope. He was still in (at the start of day three) and, with the speed that he scores, he could have pulled something out of nowhere.
“He did it against Worcestershire (scoring a double century). They’re the types of players that you want to keep nurturing and pushing forward.
“The more he plays, the more he’ll gain that bank of intelligence around how he sets up against each bowler, the more consistent he’ll become and the better player he will become.”
Home-grown players who have started to establish themselves in Kent’s first-team squad include fast bowler Jas Singh and teenage all-rounder Jaydn Denly.
“The encouraging thing for me is there are plenty of opportunities,” said Cook.
“There’s green shoots there that can excite me and should excite all of the Kent fans, who will be coming through the gate in three or four years’ time and watching a really good home-grown Kent team.
“We can put our own stamp on things. We are kind of at the bottom and can’t go any further down. The old adage of ‘If you do the same thing, you’ll get the same result’ – we can start to change that narrative and say ‘Let’s do something different’. Let’s not be afraid.
“Fear of failure should disappear right now because you cannot get it wrong from this point.”
