Jas Singh wants to play back-to-back Championship games for the first time after he impressed in Kent’s opening-round victory.
The seam bowler got the nod in a pace-heavy attack as Kent started life under head coach Adam Hollioake with a 145-run County Championship Division 2 victory at Northamptonshire last week.
While the 22-year-old has played 12 first-class games since his county bow in 2021, incredibly, he doesn’t recall having turned out in consecutive red-ball games.
He said: “I’m probably not going to put too many expectations on myself.
“When I’ve done that in the past, I’ve looked at the outcome – and it’s not been too great. I just feel like I’m in a great place right now and, hopefully, I can be consistent.
“I’ve never played two Championship games in a row!
“Playing one was nice and, hopefully, I can play again and carry on where we left off.”
It took Kent a little over two days to see off Northamptonshire.
Tawanda Muyeye’s half-century (72) helped Kent reach 231 all out before Singh (4-35) limited the hosts to 143 in reply.
Kent slipped from 66-0 to 171 all out in their second innings, despite all-rounder Joey Evison (52) top scoring, only for South African debutant Keith Dudgeon to take 7-36 as the home side were skittled out for 114.
“It was really important for us to get that as a team,” admitted Singh. “Last year was pretty difficult.
“Division 1 was a pretty challenging place to play, there’s no hiding place.
“To win our first game was a pretty satisfying start. Hopefully, we can carry that on.”
Singh finished with match figures of 4-55 despite going wicketless second time around.
“I was pretty pleased,” he said. “Obviously last year I struggled quite a bit.
“I wasn’t expecting to play our first game but, unfortunately, there were injuries.
“I’m grateful to Adam Hollioake and Daniel Bell-Drummond that they picked me.”
It comes after Singh spent his close season Down Under.
“I’ve been to Australia for the last four seasons playing grade cricket,” he explained. “I did some work with Darren Stevens before I left.
“He has helped me with a few little technical things. He has been amazing.
“I’m grateful he came up to me and said he wanted to work with me. That certainly doesn’t happen every day!
“I played with Adelaide University. Going to Australia is amazing for my cricket but, also, it helped me in terms of lifestyle.
“I lived with Wes Agar for four months and I was learning from him pretty much every day.
“It’s definitely something I want to do as much as I can.”
The experience of being coached by legendary Kent all-rounder Stevens is something which Singh believes he has taken plenty from.
“Stevo is a legend of the game,” he said. “He definitely knows what he’s doing.
“He doesn’t have a massive role at Kent, but he’s really passionate. You can see Kent’s still in his heart.”
On what he had specifically been working on, Singh added: “I’ve worked on my run-up for the last two years and that’s coming together.
“At the crease, it’s about getting over my body more, rather than falling over, and trying to bowl my stock ball as much as possible.”
Singh expected to miss out to spinner Matt Parkinson against Northamptonshire, only for conditions to work in his favour.
“Deebs (Bell-Drummond) is really good with his communication as captain,” noted Singh. “He had called me a couple of days before and told me that I was going to be in the squad.
“They were going to play Parky but then, when we got there, the pitch was pretty green.
“It was probably about 10 or 15 minutes before the toss that Deebs made the decision.”
Singh worked alongside Dudgeon in a five-strong bowling attack and was excited by what he saw from the 29-year-old South African, who Kent quickly nicknamed ‘The Rhino’.
“I hadn’t really heard of Keith before,” he revealed. “It was my first time meeting him when he arrived.
“I think he has loved it so far, he said it felt like he has been here for ages.
“He bowled fantastically. To get seven wickets on debut in the second innings says a lot about him.
“I cannot wait to play with him more.”
Kent will now play their first home game under new head coach Hollioake.
Singh stated: “Smokes (Hollioake) has been amazing.
“I think everyone is loving working with him. He’s straight to the point but, also, a good laugh.
“Just talking to him, I’m learning a lot where he has got a lot of experience, winning trophies for Surrey and playing for England.
“I think this season is going to be a good one. I don’t think it’s just the coaching side, either, it’s also the mental side.
“He has been really good to talk to about that.”
While the new campaign is very much in its infancy, Kent already have some major selection decisions.
Pakistan Test seam bowler Kashif Ali is due to come into contention for their match against Middlesex, which starts at Canterbury from tomorrow, while England international Parkinson and teenage all-rounder Jaydn Denly will also hope to feature.
Experienced batting all-rounder Joe Denly (arm) and bowler Matt Quinn (lower limb) are already expected to face long injury lay-offs.
Singh said: “Obviously, that was just the first game.
“Injuries happen all the time so we should always be ready to play. There’s a lot of talent in the dressing room.
“There’s a lot of competition, but we’ll just take it game-by-game, over-by-over and ball-by-ball and see where that takes us.”
Batsman Ben Geddes is among Middlesex’s squad, having played for Kent on loan from Surrey in 2023.
