Seam bowler Matt Milnes downplayed his record figures that inspired Kent’s first win this season.
Milnes returned an extraordinary 6-12 from 15 second-innings overs as Adam Hollioake’s men claimed a 225-run County Championship Division 2 victory against winless Derbyshire at Canterbury on Monday.
But Milnes said: “It’s condition-based. I don’t think I bowled that much better than I have all season. You just have got to try and do the basics quite well.
“I feel like I have done that pretty well this year – it’s just not quite fallen for me at times – so I’m glad, on Monday, it evened itself out.”
While Milnes’ 6-12 was the best he had recorded in a single innings, his match-day figures of 9-99 fell just shy of his best County Championship figures across a whole game.
With Kent due to return to action against Gloucestershire from Friday, Milnes said: “I sort of said it to Deebs [captain Daniel Bell-Drummond about staying on longer].
“But at the same time, I’m a bit old and weathered now so I’ve just got to look after the body that bit more.
“When I’ve missed the amount of time through injury as I have, with the eyes on the next game, it makes sense.”
Milnes bagged five of his six second-innings victims on the final day after he had opening batsmen Caleb Jewell caught behind at the end of day three.
“The way me and Dudg [Keith Dudgeon] bowled in that period, maybe, we deserved two or three,” he said.
“But we got that one late on – obviously, a very good player, as well – and that set us up.
“Only needing nine wickets, that gave us that extra bit of momentum.”
In contrast, Dudgeon took just one second-innings wicket but Milnes praised the 30-year-old South African overseas man.
“You have still got to exploits the conditions,” he said. “I think also Dudg did that really well.
“He was a touch unlucky in this game. He looks like he is hitting his straps well, which is nice, and the other guys backed us up really well.
“It’s nice for them to get a few wickets behind them, too.”
Bowling well and not getting the wickets those efforts deserved is something which many would argue Milnes had done prior to the Derbyshire win.
On staying level-headed in the tougher periods, Milnes said: “I hope I’m slightly better than I used to be at it!
“You get enough bad days but, hopefully, the days like Monday are the ones that level it all out. You just put the ball there.
“Some days, that works and, some days, it doesn’t. Thankfully, on Monday, it did.”
Milnes praised Kent’s catching in the slip cordon, too, with Tawanda Muyeye and Ben Dawkins both successfully making fine grabs.
He added: “It was very good. I think, all year, they have been excellent in there.
“They train very well and, especially with Tawanda, some of the catches he has caught have been excellent.
“For Dawks to get a good one, that’s good for him.”
Kent’s first red-ball win since April 2025 was watched by more than 600 spectators on day four as the county threw open the gates on the Bank Holiday.
“The atmosphere in the crowd was brilliant,” said Milnes. “Jas [Singh], when he came onto bowl, got a nice reception.
“Little things like that were brilliant.”
Kent Women were six-wicket winners over Sussex Sharks in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at the weekend.
Vice-captain Coco Streets’ 104 helped the Horses to the target of 218 in the 46th over after Sydney Gorham (3-29) and Amy Gordon (3-34) had bowled well.
