20 Years, Man and Boy ... (Part 2)

So my memories will start to become a bit less clear now.  I didn't mention previously that Kent actually came 2nd in the championship in 2001, and they put up a small challenge in 2002, when again the batsman all made runs.  Symonds was again the overseas talent.  Kent lost in the semi-final of the one day cup in this year, chasing a huge total at Somerset they were in contention and probably favourites with Nixon and Ealham at the crease, they proceeded to throw away their last four or five wickets and lose.  Saggers would still have been the pick of the seamers.

2003 saw each county allowed to take two overseas players, Kent started the year with Greg Blewett and Symonds.  This was also the year 20:20 started: Kent took a while to grasp this format, but they won their first ever match at Beckenham against Hampshire: Symonds hit 96 off 32 balls (really), savaging the seamers Mullally and Giddins, mostly over long on and mid-wicket in an extraordinary display of power.  In the championship, we struggled for most of the first half of the year.  Mohammed Sami replaced Blewett as overseas player, and blew away Nottinghamshire with about 16 wickets in the match.  Championship form turned with the signing of Muttiah Muralitheran for the second half of the season; although he was surprisingly easily played by Middlesex in a Sunday League draw with scores level, his form in the championship was sensational, and I think Kent won or drew all of the seven or eight games he played, in which he took around 40 wickets.  Truly one of the greats.  2003 was also the year that Ed Smith displayed his finest form; he was in sensational form all year, with a truly magical spell around July where he scored a number of hundreds in succession.  Late in the year he scored his first double hundred (against Surrey, possibly), and in the Sunday League relegation decider at the end of the season, scored a hundred.

In 2004, Kent in theory challenged for the championship for much of the year, although in practice they were well short of Warwickshire.  It was Robert Key's turn to hit sensational form, his run of hundreds propelling him to the England side where he scored his first test hundred against the West Indies.  I don't remember much about this year.  Early in the season the mercurial Sami returned and destroyed Gloucestershire in the Sunday league; an extraordinary bowling performance saw him take around 8 wickets.

In 2005 Kent had a fairly large change of personnel: Smith went to Middlesex, Symonds departed, and in came Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp, with Kolpak signing Martin Van Jaarsveld in the middle order.  Van Jaarsveld became one of a handful of players to score a pair of hundreds on his Kent debut.  Kent challenged for the title all year, up to their penultimate match, where Nottinghamshire set them an absurd 420 to win off 70 overs on the last day, which they failed badly to chase.

The amount of Kent cricket I have watched since 2005 has decreased remarkably; I spent a couple of years as a member of Surrey in 2006 and 2007, being fortunate enough to watch Mark Ramprakash in perhaps the finest form of any batsman I have ever seen.  I have fitted in the odd game since then, but the seasons all blur together; I know there have been two relegations and one immediate promotion, a 20:20 cup win and another finals day.  Overall I would say that county cricket is not what it was: starting times are all over the place, as are tournaments, there is too much cricket that people don't want to watch, and the one day competitions need a genuine strategy to move forward.  I will always keep an eye out for Kent cricket, and will attend matches as and when I can with my dad, but the thoughts I used to have of taking my son to watch county cricket in the same way that my dad took me are not so present; I doubt there will be a championship worth watching in ten years time.  But there we go.

To finish my ridiculously self-indulgent trawl through memory lane, I have selected three teams: the best XI I saw play for Kent, the best XI I could pick for Kent with only one foreign player, and the best XI of players I have ever seen in the flesh.

Fulton, Key, Dravid, Hooper, De Silva, Symonds, Nixon, Ealham, Headley, Saggers, Muralitheran

Fulton, Key, Smith, Hooper, Van Jaarsveld, Ealham, Nixon, Patel, Headley, Mccague, Saggers

Hayden, Langer, Lara, Richards, Waugh, Kallis, Russell, Warne, Waqar, McGrath, Muralitheran

Thanks for reading, even though I know you didn't really.