Kent will not press the panic button despite their slow start to the season.

That’s the verdict of head coach Matt Walker on the back of last week’s 200-run defeat to Yorkshire at Canterbury.

Kent’s wayward bowling left them on the backfoot from day one while their top-order batsmen failed to deliver big runs – a recipe that saw them comprehensively beaten despite Matt Milnes’ final day career-best 78.

“It’s only day eight of the season so there’s no panic,” stated Walker. “We’d have love to have won this game or held on for a draw but it’s not the end of the world.

“We’ve got eight (more) games in this competition and we can put it right pretty quickly.

“We need to be a bit better, iron out those mistakes and the sloppy starts we have had with bat and ball. The batters look in great touch but the challenge is to go on and make big hundreds.

“That’s what we need to do as a team to make it count and when we do that we’re a good side as it gives the bowlers something to bowl out. The bowlers need to start executing a bit better.

“We’ve had a tough start. Northants was a tough wicket to bowl on and then we’ve had (to bowl) a lot of overs against Yorkshire.”

Walker insisted Kent are not far off getting it right but he knows his players can’t repeat their mistakes when they host Lancashire at Canterbury from Thursday.

“They can all do it – it’s making sure their thinking is right and we’ve got the right mental approach,” said Walker.

“We’ve had a good chat about the areas we need to work on. They know we weren’t good enough early on against Yorkshire.

“We’ve got to stick together. We’ve been down this road a few times where we’ve started the season poorly and then gone on to play some good cricket. The key is not to panic.

“They’re not excuses but our bowlers had less prep than usual with the weather we had in their defence so they are probably a little bit behind.

“We’re not a million miles away from those sides. We’re good enough to beat these sides but you can’t make big mistakes. That first session (against Yorkshire) we were way off and sometimes it’s difficult to claw it back.

“We can be that side where we get on top pretty quickly and not let them back in. We didn’t start as well as we would have liked. It’s not a lack of effort, our execution just wasn’t right and we got punished for that.

“You’ve got to play well over four days to win games against good teams. If you have two hours or half a day off it then you’ll find it difficult to win games. We’ll get it right and hopefully we can be better this week.”

Kent will be without Tim Groenewald and Imran Qayyum through injury while Harry Podmore (side strain) is expected to be out for some time.

Grant Stewart was unable to bowl late on day three against Yorkshire due to a stomach issue so Heino Kuhn could come into the team if Kent opt to go with four frontline bowlers.

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