Rob Key has opened up about Kent’s slow start admitting he is under pressure having “not done his job” and warning it will be a long season unless the players – including himself – start performing.

The Kent captain, who turns 36 on Tuesday, averages just 14 after his first six innings of the season in the heavy defeats at Essex and Lancashire and this week’s home opener against Leicestershire in LV= County Championship, Division 2.

He admitted: “You do feel under pressure. If you’re not scoring runs you’re always under pressure but that’s for me to try and put to bed. It would be nice.

“There’s nothing worse than when you’re not scoring runs as a captain. It’s not the most enjoyable game when you’re just sitting in the dressing room and fielding. It’s a bit of a pain.”

He added: “It certainly has been tough. It’s never easy when you’re losing games of cricket and chasing games all the time like we’ve been.

“We need to make sure we start playing a lot better than we have been otherwise it’s going to be a long year.

“There’s only so much talking you can do, the game is about batting well and bowling well. If you’re not doing either, you’re going to find yourself in trouble in a lot of games.”

Any hopes Kent had of beating a side who have not won in the Championship since September 2012 were hit as some slack bowling allowed Leicestershire to post 386 in their first innings before Key’s side collapsed from 215-3 to 268 all-out in less than 15 overs in reply, giving up a first innings lead of 118.

Key admitted: “They bowled well but things like that happen when you’re not playing particularly well and not the most confident of sides. We’ve got to change that
around.”

Kent were tipped to push for promotion given the strength of their batting line-up, in particular but Key said: “We’re not playing as well as we can do so it doesn’t matter what it says on paper. We need to up it in all departments.”

He added: “I haven’t done my job to anywhere near my full potential – until I start doing that you’re always under pressure and we have to do that pretty quickly.”

Kent entertain Glamorgan at Canterbury from Sunday.