No decision has been made over who will lead Kent Spitfires’ One-Day Cup squad this summer.
The Hundred tournament is played at the same time as the domestic 50-over competition in August.
Former Kent head coach Matt Walker was part of the Oval Invincibles staff at The Hundred, and other Kent coaches stepped up in his absence.
In contrast, new head coach Adam Hollioake doesn’t have any Hundred commitments, despite his links with Surrey – where the Invincibles play.
But while Hollioake will be at Kent for the One-Day Cup, director of cricket Simon Cook hasn’t ruled out the possibility of second-team coach Mark Dekker again stepping up to take charge of the side.
“It’s going to be really exciting,” said Cook. “The One-Day Cup is not only a competition that we use for player development, but for coach development.
“In the last few years, we’ve had a lot of our pathway coaches come and assist.
“Mark Dekker led the team last year and, actually, decisions haven’t really been made yet on who’s going to lead that.
“Is it going to be Adam or is it going to be Deks? We’re still kind of kicking that around for a little bit and figuring out where we go with that because there is an element of trying to up-skill our other coaches, as well.
“Adam is very open to those sorts of discussions so we’ll let you know that once we have firmed that up.”
There had been some close-season suggestions that Hollioake would also take over Walker’s position at Oval Invincibles.
But Hollioake stated: “I would have thought he (Walker) would stay in that role. They have been very successful up there.
“Personally, I’m not involved with any Hundred sides. I’m staying here and doing the 50-over stuff.
“As far as I’m aware, Walks will carry on. That’ll be crazy for them to change it because they have won it twice in the past two years and you don’t change a winning team.”
Hollioake sees a realistic prospect of silverware for Spitfires in the One-Day Cup.
Kent will only lose Blast skipper Sam Billings, batsman Tawanda Muyeye and England international opener Zak Crawley – who has signed for Northern Superchargers after losing his London Spirit contract – to the 2025 Hundred.
“There’s a real challenge there with managing your players,” said Hollioake. “A lot of players are disappointed to have missed out on The Hundred and a lot of sides don’t really take that competition as seriously as they should.
“That might be an opportunity for us to get some silverware where maybe some of the other sides aren’t really up for competing.
“It doesn’t matter to me – whether it’s Championship, T20 or the 50-over competition – we’ll just be trying to win every game we play.”
