Eight is the magic number for Kent’s LV= County Championship promotion hopes, with coach Jimmy Adams claiming winning half their games would be enough to secure a return to the top flight.

Adams’ side begin their first Division 2 game against Essex at Chelmsford on Sunday, seeking to make a fast start to a campaign which the former West Indies captain says should be greeted with excitement by Kent fans.

Adams said: “Hopefully we can get off to a good start. Essex and Lancashire away (the following Sunday) is a tough start but it doesn’t bother me. Over 16 games your end result is determined by yourself, not the opposition.

“This year the demographics of the team are creating extra excitement to previous years, and maybe rightly so.

“If you think about it it’s difficult not to think there are a few possibilities this year. The sky’s the limit. It’s infected people in and around the club.

“Consistency is the key though. Many players flash here and there, the key is to get a group to operate at a certain level every week.”

He added: “I think we have a squad capable of winning trophies and getting win percentages way past what we’ve had in previous years. It would be good to get that off and running come Sunday.”

The win percentage the club are targeting is 50, with Adams explaining: “We’ve looked at it and stats from the past few years tell us if you get eight wins and bonus points across eight other games you’re in a really good position to go up.

“We have that as a sort of benchmark. We’d love more but it’s important to have a guideline when you start the season.”

Eight wins did prove enough to land the Division 2 title in 2009, however Kent have only won seven in the past two seasons combined.

Kent head over the Dartford Crossing on a high after a productive pre-season schedule which saw them amass more than 1,100 runs in three innings against Hampshire and Loughborough MCCU.

Following Sam Northeast’s ton in the warm-up at the Ageas Bowl last week, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Billings and Darren Stevens cracked centuries against Loughborough this week, with Rob Key falling eight runs short of three figures in his new role batting at three.

Adams explained: “The main thing is to get people as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
“Key seems very comfortable with going in at three and we have two very exciting openers in DBD and Joe Denly.

“If players are relaxed and comfortable in their roles hopefully runs will follow and confidence will get stronger.”

Ben Harmison (knee) and David Griffiths (tricep) miss out, while Brendan Nash (illness) will be assessed and the club hope spinner Adam Riley will be fit after hurting his shoulder
diving for a ball against Loughborough on Sunday.