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Soon-to-be Kent director of cricket Simon Cook wants to put focus on fielding as they establish their true brand of cricket
05:00, 24 September 2023
updated: 10:30, 24 September 2023
There will be a strong fielding focus to the style of play new Kent director of cricket Simon Cook wants to instil.
Cook - while admitting Kent play “some good cricket” at present - doesn’t believe there’s exactly a true brand of cricket. That’s something the 46-year-old is eager to introduce.
On his vision of how they should play, Cook said: “It focuses around identifying a brand or a style of cricket that we really want to play.
“We play some good cricket at the moment - but I don’t feel there’s necessarily a true brand. That brand needs to filter down the pathway.
“A lot of that comes from fielding, for example. That’ll be one area where I would like to see an upskill is our fielding in the first team and then, obviously, into the second team and down through the pathway.
“If we’re creating the best fielders, when you walk into the ground, look up and see the scoreboard, you shouldn’t really be able to tell what the score is or where a team is by looking at their body language.
“They should all be looking to make an impact - whether that’s taking a catch, making a run out and that’s the sort of messages that we want to try and get down the pathway.
“Then, you start to create that belief you can win games from any particular situation. Fielding is something you do 75 per cent of the time in cricket so it’s definitely something you can control.
“We don’t necessarily have to be the most talented batters and bowlers to do that but, if we’re constantly mentally switched on and trying to make a difference in the field, we then have a good chance of coming together as a unit and moving forward.
“You are always a stronger side if you have 10 or 11 guys out there and on it versus two batters.”
Improvements in fielding is something Cook wants to see from the first-team squad downwards.
“If we’re starting to produce the best Academy fielders, they can start helping in the first team,” he continued.
“They get more first-team exposure by being 12th man and getting on the field, experiencing playing in front of crowds and interacting with really good players. They’ll learn more and upskill quicker than they would necessarily playing Academy games or second-team games.
“It also allows our squad staff players to go and play second-team cricket to get better.
“That’s, ultimately, what we want to do to move forward, creating that brand and style in a way we can win.”
Cook also wants to see more players come through Kent’s youth ranks and eventually play for England at senior level. It’s something he thinks head of grounds Adrian Llong and Josh Marden, who looks after Kent’s Beckenham pitch, will need to be involved in, too.
“I think we need to be producing our own cricketers,” he stated. “I’ve mentioned that with the Academy about moving players through.
“The other thing is we have got to be producing England players. We’ve got to be looking at that as a goal and as a target.
“If we produce England players, we’re going to be a very successful team. That also filters down into pitch preparation so we’re playing on the best surfaces we possibly can and we’re giving players the best opportunity to put their best game forward to represent England.
“My relationship with Llongy here at Canterbury and Josh at Beckenham is going to be key to ensuring we are able to deliver a surface that we can deliver our skills on.”
Kent play their final County Championship Division 1 game of the summer at Canterbury against Lancashire from Tuesday.
They will start it third-bottom in the table, a single point ahead of Middlesex and the relegation zone, after they batted out the last day of their rain-disrupted match against Somerset at Taunton for a draw on Friday.
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