Head coach Matt Walker concedes Kent’s seam bowling injury crisis is “brutal” as they aim to avoid relegation.

Kent’s battle to stay in County Championship Division 1 looks set to go to the wire as they finish the summer against Lancashire at Canterbury from Tuesday.

New Zealand bowler Ben Lister had been due to play in their run-in - but injured his hamstring on international duty against England last Friday at Lord’s.

Nathan Gilchrist and all-rounder Grant Stewart are out with hamstring problems while bowler Matt Quinn isn’t fit.

To compound matters, veteran campaigner Michael Hogan limped off on the first day of Kent’s match against Somerset at Taunton yesterday.

Jas Singh and Arafat Bhuiyan are the only out-and-out senior seam bowlers fully fit.

“We’ve had a tough week with injuries again,” admitted Walker, speaking on Monday evening. “It’s been brutal!

“It’s sort of summed up our season in lots of ways. Gilly [Gilchrist] picked up an injury which is a real blow for him, having not played much this year. He looked like he was getting back towards his best but pulled his hamstring.

“Grant fought really hard to come back from a season-ending injury 12 days ago. He looked to be on the right path and then he aggravated his hamstring again. He’s now out for the season.

“Matt Quinn is still not fit after an abductor injury which hasn’t got better and then there’s Ben Lister. He was meant to come to us after those New Zealand games but has managed to pull his hamstring so he’s now flown home.

“You couldn’t script it. It seems to be one of those seasons. We can’t seem to get bodies fit and, when they are fit, they don’t seem to stay fit.

“It’s been a real challenge.”

While it’s the second successive season where Kent have been scrambling for Division 1 survival, they have generally enjoyed white-ball success in recent seasons.

This year, they haven’t progressed to the knockout stages of the T20 Blast or the One-Day Cup, though.

“We want to stay in Division 1,” said Walker. “It’s where you want to play your cricket and we’ll try our very best to do that.

“It’s been a very tough year. The competition has been as strong as it’s ever been in Division 1 and the challenges we have faced have been pretty significant.

“We’ve been hit extremely hard with injuries and other issues, which haven’t made it straightforward for us at all. It’s been a really tough one and we find ourselves in this position.

“If we do end up failing in our mission to stay up, it won’t be from a lack of effort. Everyone knows the job at hand - and we’ll give it everything. It’s been a difficult year.

“We haven’t played well enough when we have had the opportunity to play well, we’ve not taken some chances when they presented themselves, and we’ve come up against some very good opposition. That’s the facts.

“But it doesn’t mean we can’t salvage the season with a good finish. We found ourselves in this position at the back-end last year and we managed to get out of it. Can we do it this year?

“Hopefully we can and, if we can’t, we’ll sit down and plan for the following year.”

England batsman Zak Crawley capped a fine summer by signing a new one-year deal, days after his 158 in the first innings against Nottinghamshire, which finished in a draw.

“That’s really pleasing,” said Walker. “He’s very settled here and I think he really enjoys playing his cricket with us.

“The fact he played for us last week sort of said it all. He didn’t need to play that game. He’s had a pretty busy summer and then, obviously, has lots coming up but he wanted to play.

“Not only that, but the way he contributed to the game with that hundred, playing magnificently well, it just shows what sort of bloke he is.

“He’s a team man, puts the team first, and I’m very grateful to him for making himself available for that game.”

Spinner Aron Nijjar has joined Kent on loan from Essex until the end of the campaign and, although he and Indian overseas spinner Yuzvendra Chahal were surprise exclusions against Somerset on a seam-friendly pitch, both had shone against Nottinghamshire and could be key men against Lancashire.

Nijjar - 29 this Sunday - is set to leave Essex. He played club cricket for Minster this summer.

While Walker didn’t completely rule out signing Nijjar permanently, with England international Matt Parkinson set to arrive and fellow spinner Hamid Qadri still at Kent, a move for Nijjar looks unlikely.

Walker said: “Obviously, we have signed Matt Parkinson as an out-and-out spinner - a very exciting signing - and we still have Hamid Qadri at the club.

“To have three out-and-out spinners is a bit of a luxury and can create its own problems. Generally, you only play one and, with the bulk of the Championship cricket at the start of the season, it’s difficult to get two in the side.

“But, having said that, who knows? It may be something that does fit for us.

“We’ll see and make that decision over the next couple of weeks.”

The second day of Kent’s four-day match against Somerset was washed out, with the hosts moving to 214-2 on day one.

Kent’s Crawley, captaining England in their three-match One-Day International series against Ireland, also saw today’s first game of the series washed out at Headingley without a ball being bowled.

England’s next scheduled match will be at Trent Bridge this Saturday.