Jack Leaning insists winning games of professional cricket isn’t always as easy as some fans think after Kent’s record-breaking County Championship Division 1 defeat to Surrey.

Kent looked in a good position when, having bowled out the reigning champions for 145 first time around, they added a second-innings 344 - 43 more than they achieved in the first innings - to set the visitors a massive 501 for victory in Canterbury.

Only once before in County Championship history had a side failed to defend more than 500 in a losing cause but tons by opener Dom Sibley (140 not out), wicketkeeper Ben Foakes (124) and Jamie Smith (114) saw Surrey reach 501-5.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion,” said stand-in skipper Leaning, filling in for dropped captain Sam Billings, who turns 32 today.

“It’s not always as easy as it looks from the sidelines - believe it or not. The boys are always trying to win the game. There’s certainly no lack of effort in there.

“We were beaten by the better team this week because ultimately in four-day cricket, the team who plays the best consistently throughout the week, always wins.”

Kent required seven wickets for victory on the final day but only took two, one from Joe Denly’s leg-spin and another by Indian overseas debutant Arshdeep Singh.

Asked if that showed how flat the pitch had become, batsman Leaning replied: “It was a very good wicket on Wednesday, I think it’s been a very good wicket all game, to be honest.

“It’s not had excessive amounts of pace but it’s been a good cricket wicket. They showed us how to bat, fourth innings, and I think it’s pretty good for us to focus on them having won the game, rather than us losing it.

“The boys gave everything and we tried every different plan - we went short, full, wide, slower balls, bouncers, spin from both ends, over and around [the wicket] - and they took everything in their stride and got the runs, so fair play to them.”

Kent had been 41-5 in their first innings - only for wicketkeeper Jordan Cox (133), all-rounder Joey Evison (58) and Australian overseas Wes Agar (51) to get them to a respectable score before an all-round performance in the field restricted Surrey well the first time around.

Leaning said: “All I asked for at the start of the week was for the team to stick together through thick and thin of the four days, back each other up and just do it as a collective. I couldn’t ask for any more from the lads this week.

“We’ve put on two decent scores, set them 500 to win, fourth innings, bowled as well as we’ve bowled all season there without any reward, and we were probably unlucky to miss out on a couple of decisions that - on another day - could go our way. Then, it’s a very different story.

“We dropped a couple of catches ourselves on Tuesday afternoon, which you can’t afford to do in a chase like that, especially against a good side. It’s, obviously, a little bit raw at the moment.

“But it’s back to T20 cricket in a couple of days’ time and, hopefully, we can carry on the form we showed against Hampshire.”

Asked where this result left Matt Walker’s under-fire second-bottom side in the red-ball format, Leaning added: “Just five points better off than where we were at the start of the week.

“It was always going to be a tough game this week before a ball was bowled. But from the position we got ourselves into in the game, it’s disappointing to only come away with five points.

“But I’d like to think, if we play like we have done this week, consistently over the course of the season, we’ll finish on many of the right sides of results come the end of the season.”

Leaning also revealed he had spoken with Billings throughout the Surrey match.

“I’ve spoken to him quite a lot,” the 29-year-old said. “He’s offered loads of words of encouragement and lots of opinions on how things are going and I’m very grateful for that.

“He’s, obviously, a very experienced cricketer. He’s played all around the world and his form in red-ball cricket wasn’t quite as good as he’d have liked, early season. So for him to miss out this week, there’s nothing bitter or anything like that with Sam.

“He’s always happy to help the boys where he can and pass on his knowledge. He’s been brilliant.

“That’s him as a character. He always wants to be involved and doing things to help out where he can. I think that’s a sign of him.

“I think he’s had a couple of days away so, hopefully, he’s nice and fresh.”

Spitfires now return to T20 Blast action, initially at Lord’s against Middlesex tomorrow night.

Leaning noted: “The boys are certainly looking forward to it. I think we gained a lot of momentum with the manner we won on Friday night against Hampshire.

“We played really well as a team. Similarly, when Sam has been captain, he just asks for everybody to give everything they’ve got for the team and to really go out there and back ourselves.

“There’s probably been times in T20 where we’ve possibly gone back in our shells a little bit, which is not how we play our best cricket. Hampshire was a perfect example on Friday night of how well we can play as a team and we showed glimpses of the way we eased past sides in 2021.

“Hopefully, that gives us a nice, little springboard before we go to Lord’s on Friday night and a team in Middlesex who have struggled, as well, in the competition.

“Hopefully, we can get a nice result there and get on a roll.”

That match is followed on Saturday night by a trip to Bristol to face Gloucestershire.

Bristol-born Leaning, who branded the chopping and changing of formats as a “shambles” last year, said: “The joys of the county cricket schedule… I’ve stated my opinions on that before.

“I think it needs a little bit of consideration into how it’s formatted. I actually think it was against Surrey last year that we had the same conversation.

“From a personal perspective, if you’re going to put four-day cricket in the middle of T20s, I think they should at least be back-to-back to give you some time to practice and recover from one to go into another. But it’s the way it is.

“We’ve got to look past that, enjoy it and, hopefully, we can get a result at Bristol as well.”

It’s not the start to the summer Kent wanted in either format - winning one of seven County Championship clashes and two of seven South group games in the Blast.

But Leaning insisted: “We’ve got a very vast array of senior and young players in the dressing room at the moment, who are all incredibly talented.

“Once those guys start to click together, myself included, I’m sure we’ll put some serious performances on the board. There’s still plenty of games left this season.

“If we play like we did over the four days this week consistently, I think we’ll be there or thereabouts.”