Kent chairman George Kennedy will meet with the ECB later this week to present the club’s case for promotion.

The club’s hierarchy were enraged this week when they learned Durham had been relegated to Division 2 of the Specsavers County Championship amid financial turmoil and Hampshire handed a reprieve from Division 1 relegation, without consulting Kent, runners-up in the second tier.

Mr Kennedy revealed the club have enlisted the help of lawyers to establish their position and want to lodge a formal appeal to an independent panel.

He said: “The ECB said the decision was taken in line with competition regulations but we have had these requirements looked over by a lawyer and we disagree completely.

“I received a call asking if I would be available to meet with the ECB Chairman later this week and I look forward to presenting Kent’s case.”

He added: “This is a legal matter which needs to be resolved. We have several lawyers involved in the club and access to QCs. We need to be clear on whether we have a legal case.

"I am not going to waste money on it, trust me - the work done so far has been done on a pro-bono basis.”

The promotion blow is the latest in a line of perceived injustices to hit Kent this year.

It was only agreed in March - the month before the season began - that the second promotion place from Division 2 was withdrawn to enable a restructure of the Championship divisions from 2017.

Kent duly went on to finish second, 23 points behind champions Essex, who will replace Division 1 basement-boys Nottinghamshire in the top-flight next summer.

To make matters worse Kent’s opening game at New Road, Worcester, in April was washed-out without a ball being bowled, leaving Kent with just five points to show from a game they felt never stood a chance of going ahead.

Mr Kennedy added: “With Worcester we were told categorically that there was no appeal process. I would be very, very disappointed if we were told the same again about this issue.

"There has to be an appeal process and one that is heard independently.”

An ECB spokesperson told KentOnline: “Yesterday today's decision to reinstate Hampshire was in line with the two-down, one-up relegation and promotion rules for this season's county championship which were notified to all Counties and published prior to start of the 2016 season.”