Matt Walker says Kent do not intend being in Division 1 of the championship just to make the numbers up.

Kent are back in the championship top flight for the first time since 2010 and Walker says he has every confidence they can avoid the same fate as Worcestershire who were relegated this summer, just 12 months after winning promotion.

Head coach Walker said: “We’ll need to improve in some areas, for sure, but I’m confident we will be able to compete.

“We’re not there just to survive, there is a real belief that this group can succeed. They put a lot of hard work into this season and to get 10 wins from 14 matches was a tremendous achievement.

“Yes, you can use what happened to Worcestershire but I’d rather look at the example of Essex who won Division 1 the season after they went up.

“That was perhaps a bit of a precedent but it did show that not every side that goes up automatically struggles and what we do have, hopefully, is momentum.”

Doubts still remain about whether bowling spearhead Matt Henry will return for 2019 but Walker believes Kent’s bowling attack is otherwise nicely balanced.

He did, however, concede that the county will need to improve their batting numbers to be competitive in the top division.

The Division 2 runners-up collected just 16 batting points – champions Warwickshire recorded 41 and even seventh-placed Derbyshire picked up 30 – with Joe Denly (828), Heino Kuhn (780), Zak Crawley (755) and Sean Dickson (710) the only men to pass 500 runs.

Daniel Bell-Drummond (436) and Darren Stevens (310) both averaged less than 20, managing just three half-centuries between them.

Walker said: “It was a difficult one because of the type of wickets we played on but it wasn’t just us. Teams were still being bowled out cheaply at the end of the season but I think Division 1 will suit our batters.

“There will better bowlers and you would expect better consistency but the wickets, we hope, will also be better.”

Kent’s Sam Billings will captain the Bengal Tigers in the T10 League taking place in the United Arab Emirates.

The Tigers are coached by former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and it is the second season of the tournament.

Matches start on November 21 with the final due to take place on December 2.