Kent chairman George Kennedy claims toeing the ECB line by holding his tongue about the Durham Championship demotion saga has “backfired spectacularly.”

Mr Kennedy is set to meet ECB chief Colin Graves this week to put forward Kent’s case for promotion as runners-up in Division 2 after the ECB voted to reprieve second-bottom Division 1 side Hampshire from the drop instead, in the wake of Durham’s relegation amid financial turmoil.

Furious Mr Kennedy revealed: “One of the things that really annoyed me is that Hampshire made representations through the media about all this whereas we were advised not to say anything.

“I kept to that but that has backfired on me spectacularly.”

The news was released on Monday afternoon and Mr Kennedy added: “Hampshire also received a phone call to tell them of the decision before the ECB press release was released whereas the first I heard was when I got a call from a journalist asking for a comment after the press release came out.

“It’s a pretty poor way of handling things, if you ask me.”

Mr Kennedy also bemoaned the voting system at the ECB board meeting where five people were excluded from voting on the issue – including new MCC chief Matthew Fleming, a former Kent captain.

Mr Kennedy added: “It’s basically come down to non-execs and chairman to make the decision.”

Kent fans have speculated that the decision may have been impacted by Kent voting against the ECB’s proposed T20 city franchise scheme, while Hampshire voted for it.

Mr Kennedy added: “A lot of people have said it has something to do with that. The reason I voted no is that Kent is a members club and as such I had to answer to the members.

"We have now done that, spoken to them and it’s clear that we’re not saying yes or no, we want to understand the potential ramifications.”

Kennedy said talk of him stepping down from his own role in the wake of this week’s announcement had been made ‘hot off the press’ but added: “At this moment I’m only thinking about the rest of this week.”