Head coach Adam Hollioake has outlined how Kent plan to manage the workload of their seam bowling attack this summer.
It’s an area of the squad Hollioake concedes they lack depth in as they prepare for a second successive season in County Championship Division 2.
Popular seam bowler Matt Milnes has rejoined while South Africans Keith Dudgeon, Glenton Stuurman and Senuran Muthusamy, alongside Australian bowling all-rounder Tom Rogers, will play crucial roles with the ball as overseas players at various stages of the season.
“Our weakness as a squad is our depth in seam bowling,” admitted Hollioake. “There’s nothing we can do to fix that.
“We just don’t have the money to have 12 seam bowlers on rotation so we have had to go about it in other ways.
“For the beginning of this season, we will play on green wickets and try to get the game done in three days, playing on lively pitches.
“With games being over in three days, the bowlers will probably bowl 30 overs per game rather than 40 overs per game so we’re diluting their overs that way. Then, once the season gets going, we will try to revert quickly to spinning pitches and the attack will be taken by Muthusamy and Parky (Matt Parkinson) from a spin-bowling perspective.
“That’s how we will dilute our fast bowlers’ overs.”
Dudgeon, 30, played red-ball cricket for Kent last season.
He claimed career-best first-class figures of 7-36 in the second innings of Kent’s opening-round 145-run County Championship Division 2 victory over Northamptonshire – but saw his first county stay get cut short by a knee injury.
Dudgeon is back for more now, however, and will start the summer alongside Goldrush Boland domestic team-mate Stuurman.
“The two South African seam bowlers, Stuurman and Dudgeon, are the opening partnership for their side back in the South African comp,” said Hollioake.
“They know each other well. I feel like that will create some sort of consistency to the attack.
“As the season moves on and we move to the turning wickets, we’ll have Muthusamy come in and we’ll look to lead the attack by Parkinson and Muthusamy.
“We’ll look to play on spin-friendly pitches and see what we can come up with that way.”
They will be supported in Kent’s bowling attack by Milnes, 31, who rejoins for a second stint with the county.
“It’s good, having these guys coming home because they already have that Kent feel about them,” said Hollioake, who hailed Milnes and returning former Kent skipper Sam Northeast as almost overseas-standard signings.
“He adds a bit of pace to our attack. Losing Gilly (Nathan Gilchrist to Warwickshire) was a bit of a disappointment so, getting him has been a real coup for us.
“Along with the overseas players, he will lead the seam bowling attack and provide us with the opportunity to, hopefully, rotate some bowlers. We weren’t able to do that enough last year.”
While Milnes had an injury-hit stay with Yorkshire, he finished 2025 in excellent form and was thoroughly assessed by Kent’s medical team before he was re-signed.
On Milnes’ recent injury record, Hollioake said: “That was one of the things we had to consider.
“He has had a bit of a history with injuries but our medical staff did an assessment on him and we were happy he’s over most of that now. He’s a bit older, a bit stronger, a bit more mature and probably knows his body a bit better.
“Touch wood, the worst of it is over and, hopefully, he can get the best out of his body.”
Similar talks took place before fast bowler Michael Cohen, who has played just three red-ball matches for Kent since he joined in November 2023, and seam bowler Matt Quinn were handed new deals. The latter bowled just 60 overs in the County Championship last term.
“That comes into the equation, going forward,” Hollioake added. “Those guys have had injuries.
“Part of selecting a fast-bowling unit is trying to predict if they will stay fit.”
Kent start their Championship campaign with an away match against Durham from tomorrow.
