KENT captain David Fulton has called on his players to take more responsibility for their individual actions after losing out on second place in the county championship and £50,000 to boot.

Despite victory in the final four-day game in Leeds on Friday, Fulton’s side were pipped to the runner’s up slot by just two-and-a-half point - a galling finish to the campaign and one Fulton believes would have been avoided had Kent collected all the batting bonus points.

They missed bonus points by a single in Canterbury against Lancashire, then again last Thursday against Yorkshire in Leeds and also at Hove back in July which, together with a docked half-point for slow over rates in Liverpool, cost Kent dearly.

"We knew we were going to get done for slow bowling at Aigburth, but it was a seamers pitch and a sacrifice we were prepared to take," explained Fulton. But losing the batting bonus point at Hove was criminal and then we lost a couple of wickets in trying to get that point at home to Lancashire.

"It just proves you have to take care of the little things and we haven’t been quite so meticulous about these things individually as we could have been.

"If you’re the man with the bat in your hand and you’re the not out batsman with a decent score then you’ve got to make sure you get that point."

In spite of his side’s podium finish, Fulton is convinced that Kent can continue to improve by doing the little things that little bit better. "It’s not just about missing out on the £50,000. There is kudos in finishing second and it would have represented an improvement on last year when we also came third," he added.

"Although we’ve won three more championship wins than last year I still don’t feel we have achieved the goals I set out at the start of the season.

"I wanted us to have a real presence, be the best fielding side in the competition and be the best runner’s between the wickets in the championship, small things that we haven’t improved on as we might.

"You can’t always control your own destiny, but you can control how you go about your business and in certain areas we haven’t been good enough."