KENT’S newly appointed chairman of cricket Graham Johnson is promising positive steps forward on and off the field as the club bid to put a bleak 2004 campaign firmly behind them.

Johnson’s forthright style won over the 200 or so supporters at a members’ forum in Canterbury, but he believes that was the first, small step toward a close-season overhaul at St Lawrence.

Johnson says he viewed the forum as a qualified acceptance from the membership to move forward and he believes improvements have been made in the interim.

“From here on in my role is to get the club in shape, to move forward and we had to communicate better with our members in order to achieve that,” said Johnson.

“We have received interest from both home and abroad for our post of director of cricket and from people at a significant level in the game.

“We are in the process of talking to those people now and ideally I would like someone in place by Christmas, but my prime aim is getting the right person with the credentials to get the job done.”

Johnson believes the club’s seam bowling department is in good shape following the acquisition of Simon Cook from Middlesex and that his priority is to recruit new batting talent.

“This is no knee-jerk reaction just because Smith and Loudon have left,” added Johnson.

“Our cricket management team are constantly looking to strengthen all departments of the club and part of that role is knowing which batsmen are available and when.

“We have our pecking order in place and we are pursuing that right now, but I am not going to name names. My theory on all this is to under promise and over-deliver.”

Johnson did confirm, however, that Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and South African all-rounder Andrew Hall were on the county’s list of overseas options, but refused to go into detail on the progress of negotiations.

“They are in the melting pot yes, but we have a wide range of options to consider and a good number of people we are interested in,” he added.

“Those two have been on our list for some time but our main priority is to get the balance of our squad right.”