Batting coach Alex Gidman is optimistic Kent can generate some early-season momentum after an opening-game triumph.

Kent last had won their first County Championship clash of the campaign six years ago before they earned a seven-wicket success over Northamptonshire in Division 1 at Canterbury on Easter Sunday.

Gidman was delighted to watch Kent get off to a good start.

“Coming from a different club and a different background, for me, it’s a superb club with lots of quality players,” said Gidman.

“The whole club seems to be working really hard towards the cricket department and putting everything into cricket.

"That’s really refreshing and we have got a high-quality group of players.

“Everyone needs a bit of luck along the way and you have just got to play what’s in front of you.

• Bowler back with Kent on two-game loan

• Compton's on a mission

• Kent claim overdue opening-match win

“We’ve done that really well in this first game after a hugely difficult pre-season - as every single club has had.

“But to come through that and get some good points and have some really good individual performances - as well as a good team result - there’s no reason why we can’t get some early momentum and try to build on this good start.”

Their previous opening four-day match win also came at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, when they thrashed Gloucestershire in Division 2 in April 2017.

Alex’s younger brother, Will, featured for Kent in that match.

“Obviously I’m pleased for the guys to get that start,” he said.

“In any format of the game, you need to get off to a good start and it’s nice, particularly after what’s been a tough pre-season.”

Kent had a first-innings lead of 105 but Northamptonshire fought back well and the game appeared in the balance with the hosts 60-3, chasing 227, before an unbeaten partnership of 167 between opener Ben Compton and Jack Leaning.

Gidman said: “That word ‘calmness’ - I definitely felt that within the dressing room.

“There’s some good senior players there, all just keeping our feet on the ground and managing those periods, both in the field and with the bat.

“There was a calm confidence and that trust we would get through those periods and come out through the other side.”

Leaning ended 67 not out while Compton, who racked up more than 1,000 County Championship runs last summer, finished unbeaten on 114, as he didn’t have to wait long for his first ton in 2023.

Gidman said: “It was an outstanding innings, wasn’t it?

“In the partnership with Jack, Ben played brilliantly. He played to his strengths - which is what I heard he does anyway - and I think even that opening partnership in the first innings [worth 42 with Zak Crawley].

“It wasn’t massive, obviously, but it just got us off to a good, solid start.

"There were loads of positives with bat and ball.

“Obviously Ben stands out but I think, right across the whole group, lots of players can take something from the game.”

Next up for Matt Walker’s men are Warwickshire in a match which starts at Edgbaston from today.

“The beauty for me, having been in Second-Division cricket, there’s high-quality teams,” noted ex-Worcestershire head coach Gidman.

“We know that Warwickshire will be a very strong outfit.

“But it’s more about us at the moment and we’ll try to improve on this performance, which we’ll talk about on Tuesday, when the guys get back to work and we’ll try to improve even more ourselves.

“We’ll see where that takes us against a strong, combative, Warwickshire team.”

Fast bowler Conor McKerr, who rejoined on a two-game loan yesterday, is in Kent's 12-strong squad to face Warwickshire.

Fred Klaassen has returned from international duty with the Netherlands after their One-Day International series against South Africa and is included while all-rounder Grant Stewart misses out with a "minor" knock.

Nathan Gilchrist has been involved in some light bowling work over the past week after injuring his back and has bowled in a second-team three-day friendly at Sussex this week.

Seam bowler Matt Milnes, who left Kent last summer for Yorkshire, struck a debut 75 and took four wickets but couldn’t stop his new team falling to a three-wicket Division 2 defeat to Leicestershire at Headingley.

Kent squad: Billings, Bell-Drummond, Compton, Cox, Crawley, Denly, Evison, Hogan, Klaassen, Leaning, McKerr, Quinn.