Head coach Adam Hollioake concedes Kent’s batting is “a big worry” after they suffered an innings-and-two-run defeat to Worcestershire in their Rothesay County Championship Division 2 match on Sunday.
After Worcestershire’s first innings ended at 447 in the first over of day three, Kent were bowled out second time round for 249 as they were beaten inside three days.
Seventh-wicket pair Chris Benjamin (77) and Keith Dudgeon (41) added 71 but none of the top six passed 31 – three of them swept away by Tom Taylor, who finished with 5-56.
It was a first red-ball loss this campaign for Kent after they had battled to save draws in their first two matches in 2026.
Their problems were compounded by opener Ben Compton suffering a dislocated finger on day two. It means the 32-year-old will miss Kent’s County Championship clash against Derbyshire, which starts at Canterbury from this Friday.
Kent head coach Hollioake said: “The batting is a big worry.
“We haven’t batted well and, on paper, we have a very good batting line-up so at times like this, we have got to get back to the fundamentals.
“It’s not time to be inventing new shots or changing our style of play individually. It’s a case of accessing those fundamentals and getting ourselves in the right frame of mind to execute them.
“The mood in the group is very low and it’s my responsibility to try and pick that up.
“There will have to be at least one change to the team next game because Ben Compton is injured. We are getting to the stage where you start looking at changes.
“When you lose, that is the time to look whether you need to change the side. We have only lost one game this year, though in the two we drew we didn’t perform well, so we need to starting thinking about that.
“Ben Compton had a compound dislocation. The bone in his finger dislocated and was then sticking out of his skin. It was really ugly and I think he is under surgery at the moment, but I think the recovery is quite quick.
“He can’t play in the next game because we replaced him in this match but, hopefully, he won’t be out for too long.”
Worcestershire resumed on the third morning on 441-9 and added just six runs before Olly Hannon-Dalby was bowled by Matt Parkinson (1-92).
That left Kent needing to find 251 to avoid an innings defeat and effectively to bat for the best part of two days. Their hopes of doing so soon evaporated with the loss of four wickets in 17 overs.
Taylor took the first three in a sizzling opening spell.
Ben Dawkins – substitute for the injured Compton – edged to Ethan Brookes at second slip. Sam Northeast nicked to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick and Tawanda Muyeye was lbw playing across the line.
Zak Crawley, having been dropped on 10 by Taylor at mid-on off Hannon-Dalby (1-42), collected 31 from 57 balls but drove at a wide ball from ex-Kent South African overseas player Beyers Swanepoel (2-73) and inside-edged to Roderick.
Daniel Bell-Drummond (30) and Joey Evison added 36 up to lunch but the interval merely delayed Kent’s implosion. Bell-Drummond fell lbw to the second ball of the afternoon to Hannon-Dalby.
Taylor quickly added his fourth wicket when Evison supplied Roderick’s eighth victim of the match. Milnes, who offered an unbeaten 50 in the first innings, edged Waite (2-31) to second slip where Brookes took another fine catch.
Benjamin and Dudgeon showed degrees of application and judgment that had eluded their top-order colleagues.
They added 71 in 23 overs but the powerhouse Taylor had not finished. He prised enough movement to find Dudgeon’s edge and supply Roderick with his ninth catch of the game.
When Swanepoel plucked out Parkinson’s off-stump, last pair Benjamin and Mikey Cohen had to find 31 to make Worcestershire bat again – and a few more to set them a challenging target.
Benjamin swung D’Oliveira (0-1) over mid-wicket for six but Brookes wrapped up the innings with an lbw decision against the right-hander on the stroke of tea.
