Kent overcame storms on and off the pitch to secure unlikely promotion

By the time Kent dispatched Gloucestershire for their eighth win of the season, the result was academic. A few hours earlier, Middlesex had beaten Northamptonshire, confirming Kent’s promotion, completing one of the most strange and surprising runs in the County Championship’s two-division era.

Certainly, on May 1 it seemed desperately unlikely. That was when Kent, following a poor – and yet simultaneously lucky – start to the season, decided to disable all replies on their social media channels as an act of “duty of care” to their embattled players.

Kent had finished bottom of Division Two in 2025, by some distance. They registered nine fewer batting points and four fewer bowling points than any other side in the league. They were comfortably the worst first-class side in the country.

Early in 2026, things were not improving. The first match of the season, away at Durham, was drawn, but only because Storm Dave caused the wipeout of day three, with the hosts well on top. The overnight storm had caused the covers to be blown off and broadcasting scaffolding to be knocked over. By the time the ground was fit for play, Durham did not have time to force the win they deserved.

The next week, in Canterbury, Kent were under the pump again. Across 133 overs, Northamptonshire’s top four all racked up hundreds in 612 for two declared. Kent responded with 178 all out, and were invited to follow on. Again, though, the elements were kind: across the last two days, almost 80 overs were lost to rain, and they escaped with a draw, having been thoroughly outplayed again.

Luck with the weather? Perhaps. In the winter, the head coach Adam Hollioake employed a faith healer to, in his words, “ward off the evil spirits” at Canterbury, the 179-year-old ground that was the site of a leper hospital between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Hollioake wanted to fix a horrible run of injuries – including two batsmen colliding mid-run and concussing each other – that had beset his squad in 2025. It was Hollioake’s first season as a head coach anywhere, with Kent taking a punt on hiring him. “We got a faith healer in over the winter, or a spirit healer,” he said. “I’m not sure what the exact title was, but we got someone to ward off the evil spirits.”

Kent were forced to clarify that the invited individual was a “non-denominational geopathic surveyor”, adding that “the club’s approach to player welfare and injury prevention remains firmly rooted in professional sports science”, and that a belief in geopathy is not shared across the staff.

The indefinite social media ban that followed was implemented on the morning of their home meeting with Derbyshire, which came hot on the heels of an innings defeat at Worcester, which left them bottom.

Duty of care, sure, but it was highly unusual to effectively silence dissenting supporters online. “The majority of our supporters are behind us and criticise us fairly but when this crosses the line, this can be damaging to not only the players but their friends, family and loved ones,” said Hollioake, who is more cerebral than the average cage fighter, having lived a roller-coaster of a life in and out of cricket. Simon Cook, the director of cricket, said fans’ responses on social media had been negatively affecting players’ performances on the field.

Kent beat Derbyshire, emphatically, then crept past Gloucestershire in Bristol. In the first of those games, Matt Milnes, who rejoined the club where he made his name after an injury-hit stint with Yorkshire, took a brilliant second innings six-wicket haul. He finished the season with 54 wickets at 20, including nine for 88 in the final game of the season, spearheading the attack.

In both matches, Chris Benjamin thrived, settling a debate over who should keep wicket after the departures of Ollie Robinson and Jordan Cox, and the red-ball retirement of Sam Billings. Benjamin is not the best keeper in the country, but he is a fine batsman and by having a strong season, he has given the side balance.

Those two victories set Kent on a remarkable run, with seven wins and one defeat – a slack September effort at Derby – in 10 matches. The pick were successive victories over Middlesex, who then had promotion aspirations of their own, by 46 and 42 runs respectively. Milnes, again, was at the heart of both.

Key to Kent’s late-season charge have been two Bangladeshi overseas bowlers, Hasan Mahmud and, latterly, Khaled Mahmud, who have shared 40 wickets at an average in the teens. There is talk of a more formal tie-up to keep Bangladesh players – an untapped resource in county cricket, and a growing force in the global game – coming to Kent. Their excellence more than made up for the fact that, after Glenton Stuurman, another South African, the spinner Senuran Muthusamy never joined despite being signed.

It has been a bowlers’ summer across the board, but the performance of Milnes and co means Kent have managed to secure promotion without a vaunted batting line-up needing to fire consistently. Among regulars, only Benjamin averages in the forties, with the rest, including Sam Northeast (another who returned to the county this summer) have all had their moments without enjoying the summers they would have hoped for; a century for Ben Compton in the decisive win over Gloucestershire was a prime example. In recent weeks, Zak Crawley has found welcome form, and there are green shoots in opener Ben Dawkins and young all-rounder Ekansh Singh.

Kent have certainly enjoyed fortune. Lancashire, who had the players to compete for promotion, have been dismal, while Middlesex’s on-field mediocrity is a symptom of their off-field upheaval. The weather has remained kind: a contentious bad light call denied Northants, who needed 23 to win with four wickets in hand, victory at Derby in the penultimate week of the season, meaning Kent took a four-point buffer into the final round, not a 12-point deficit.

This has been an unexpected, unorthodox promotion. In Canterbury, though, they will not mind a jot.

Click here to read article