KENT’S decision to sign Australian Test skipper Steve Waugh ahead of this winter’s Ashes series against England has attracted some surprisingly heavy flack from pundits and supporters alike.

While the club’s more cautious members question the county’s decision to splash out on bringing the 37-year-old New South Wales all-rounder to St Lawrence for the last five weeks of the season, others have vilified the plan.

The most outspoken critic of Kent’s move to replace Andrew Symonds with Waugh, is former England coach and batsman David Lloyd, who nowadays works in the media for Sky Sports and various newspapers.

Writing in the Australian newspaper The Courier Mail, Lloyd panned both Kent and the England and Wales Cricket Board for giving Waugh the opportunity to play himself into form by returning to county cricket for the first time in 15 years.

"Lord’s must have declared a period of Glasnost in which hostilities with Australia are suspended and replaced with a period of comradeship," said the former Lancashire skipper.

"Why are we giving him (Waugh) an early peek at our best players in county cricket at this stage of the Ashes build-up. We are slitting our own throats by giving these Aussies some free match practice a couple of months before taking them on in the Ashes."

During Kent’s Festival Week victories over Somerset, a handful of county supporters voiced their surprise that the club had forked out to jet in Waugh when many of the club’s younger, fringe players remain untried or tested at championship level.

But, in defending Waugh’s capture, championship skipper David Fulton, believes the winner of 139 baggy green caps will bring more to Kent than he takes away.

"I understand our membership wanting us to give our youngsters a go, but we have to do what’s best for Kent," said Fulton. "No disrespect to our lads in the 2nds but Steve Waugh is a class player who guarantees runs at a time when we are still trying to win the championship and the Norwich Union League.

"The style Steve brings to us will hopefully help breed success at Kent and, if he can help us win a title, then surely far better to blood our youngsters next season in a winning side rather than one that may finish third or fifth had we not signed Steve."

"He’s one of the toughest, professional competitors in the game, not just on the field, but in training too, so we’re hoping his attitude on the dressing room will have a beneficial effect on our youngsters.

"No one will want to be seen to be lazy or judged as a poor performer in front of Steve Waugh."