Day 1 vs Yorkshire
Historically matches between Yorkshire and Kent have been tight heated affairs which have gone both ways over the last 10 years or so and looked like it could be a difficult start to our 2013 campaign. Kent lined up with our strongest available line up minus Jim May who was carrying a stomach injury. Lewis ‘Luigi’ Burton and Matt ‘Shorty’ Short, Sean ‘Wimbledon’ Thornley and Francis ‘ Francios’ Sargeant, and finally Andy ‘Burger’ Burgoyne and Rob ‘The Pearl’ Searle.
With Shorty using the loudest voice in the UK to shout out to all ‘The Garden of England’ had arrived the battles commenced. First to finish Rob and Andy made light work of the Yorkshire third pair and within another half an hour Sean and Francis came home with win number 2 for Kent. Lewis and Matthew had a tougher time, but when they got the decisive break Matt announced to Devonshire park that ‘It only happens in the Garden’, and it was 3-0 Kent. Amazingly rounds 2 and 3 followed a similar pattern ending up with Kent making the strongest of starts with a 9-0 win to lead the Championship charge.
Day 2 vs Hertfordshire
Defending Champions Herts would be ready as on Kent had beaten them last year, so taking no chances had their absolutely best line up on the court. Kent lined up the same with the exception of Rob Searle who was player of the day on Monday who had departed for Italy for a badly timed wedding. In his place entered the one and only Alastair Filmer who was chomping at the bit.
Round 1 saw Kent take the first set on every court, but in front of the quietest of Kent crowds it was all about to change and we ended up 2-1 down at lunch. Round 2 was tough with close fought battles throughout in searing heat, but sadly from a Kent point of view it ended 4-2 to Herts at the end of the round. With Kent needing to win all three matches in round 3 we took to the courts with hopes in our hearts and energy abound, but Herts were too strong and we ended up going down 6-3 on the day. Tight enough to still be in the title hunt, but only just!
Day 3 vs South Wales
Incredibly hot weather and incredibly hot tennis on day 3 seeing South Wales on fire in round 1 against an unchanged Kent team. Pair 2, Filmer and Burgoyne played well but were not strong enough for the 1st pair and Kent went behind. The other two matched were so tight, but when it counted, the men of Kent stood tall and took us to a 2-1 lead at lunch with the South Wales men wondering what they would need to do to get a win against the mighty garden!
Round 2 followed the same pattern with the Kent men winning 2 tight matches, but unable to tame the first pair and it was 4-2 Kent. As we entered the early evening the pattern continued and the Welsh first pair were again too strong, but the other pairs from Kent were equally too strong and took the wins to make it 6-3. A very close match that we could have lost, but Character pulled us through.
Day 4 vs Surrey
The captains speech warned of a history of difficult ties with Surrey and that being stronger on paper would not guarantee a win. We switched the line up to Thornley/Burgoyne and Sargeant/Filmer, with Lewis and Matt staying together. Within half an hour we were a set up on all three courts and the massive Surrey crowd we silenced, but not for long and somehow, and I’m still not sure how, we ended up 2-1 down after round 1. We were still confident that we could win all the remaining matches, however round 2 also went Surrey’s way with at least one player in every Surrey pair playing put of their skins and on another boiling day and we were 4-2 down at tea time. With so much on the line we had a team meeting realising that if we were to pull off a 5-4 we could still win the whole thing and equally if we were to lose tomorrow would be all about avoiding relegation. We threw all we had at it, but it was nowhere near enough on what could only be described as Surrey’s day with us losing all the important points and nearly every tiebreak to end up at 7-2 down.
Day 5 vs Norfolk
We needed two rubbers to remain in group 1 which seemed like an easy target, but after yesterday’s match nothing could be taken for granted. For many years when Kent was in need they could rely on the considerable skills of Jim ‘Gandalf’ May, but this year injury had taken him out the line ups. However on Friday at 10 o’clock we looked to the East and Gandalf was there with his staff helping the Kent men back to the safety of Devonshire Park for 2014. Round 1 was enough with Filmer and Burgoyne back together and winning in less than an hour. Meanwhile Sargeant and Gandalf formed the partnership their captain was hoping for a swept away a tough second pair to give Kent the 2-1 lead they needed to be safe. Round 2 sent Norfolk down to division 2 and at 3-3 there was nothing to play for and the match was declared a draw.
Captains Summary
In a year where I thought we were strong enough to win the title again, we fought hard, but came up short on the close matches. Perhaps if we could go back and reverse as few as 10 points over the week it would all have been different, but that’s County Week, big battles and small margins. Next year we will play Surrey first and we will be ready for revenge!
Captain Andy Burgoyne