With just a week to go until the start of Kent's cricket season, a lot of changes have been made at our county's club with two new captains and the prospect of creating one of the first women's professional county teams.
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00:00 This season marks the beginning of a new era at Kent Cricket.
00:03 With a new men's club captain and the aspirations of the women's team to become professional,
00:08 it's an exciting time for the county.
00:10 Kent Cricket is a historic club located in Canterbury.
00:13 They were founded in 1870 and the club has a very rich and successful history,
00:17 having won the county championship seven times,
00:20 the one day cup three times with their last win coming in 2022,
00:24 and the T20 blast twice, most recently in 2021.
00:28 At the end of last season, Daniel Beldrummen was announced as the new club captain of the Spitfires
00:32 after replacing Sam Billings, who will continue to captain the side in the white ball format.
00:37 Yeah, it's been the easy part. It's been the off-season, so not too much stress yet.
00:42 But no, I'm really looking forward to things getting underway.
00:46 I'm obviously very proud to be leading the guys.
00:48 And yeah, being a Kent kid coming through the ranks,
00:54 it's that extra motivation to do well for the club.
00:58 As well as a new captain, Kent's bowling lineup has been strengthened
01:01 with the return of right arm fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist.
01:04 Having missed the majority of last year's competitions through injury,
01:08 he said he is ready to hit the ground running for the new season.
01:11 Yeah, I'm really excited.
01:12 My season last year was a little bit disappointing just through injury.
01:16 So I'm really excited to get back into it.
01:20 Feels like it's been a long time.
01:21 Feels like the last time I really got stuck in was the end of the 2022 season.
01:27 So about a year and a half now.
01:29 So I'm really looking forward to getting back in.
01:31 It's also shaping up to be an exciting season for the women's team,
01:35 with Kent born and raised Megan Belt being named as their new captain.
01:39 This season, Kent Cricket set out its aspirations to become one of eight counties
01:43 to have a professional women's team.
01:45 Over the years, Kent Cricket has produced some world-class players in their recent history,
01:49 including England international Tammy Beaumont.
01:52 Whilst the club has its eyes on a professional bid for 2025,
01:56 Megan said that it's good to look into the future, but the club shouldn't get too distracted.
02:00 We've got to go into this season and focus on this season.
02:03 I think if we get too ahead of ourselves,
02:05 then we'll forget the brand of cricket that we play.
02:07 So I think it's really important to focus on this season.
02:10 It's great to think in the future I'm one for it.
02:12 I think in the future quite a lot.
02:13 But I think we've got to rein it back in a little bit and just focus on this season.
02:19 And I think if you perform well,
02:20 it puts you in a good state to kind of be selected if we get the bid.
02:24 With changes at the top and new signings for this year,
02:26 it's shaping up to be yet another historic season for Kent Cricket.
02:30 Jack Darkin for KMTV.