Head coach Jimmy Adams won’t use Kent’s white ball success to cover up for their Championship failings at the end of another disappointing campaign.

With his fourth season at the helm in the books, Adams is excited about the prospects for 2016 but accepts optimism around the future is tempered by the club’s poor four-day showing.

While the 'aching disappointment' of quarter-final exits in T20 and one-day cricket this summer still stings Adams, it is Kent’s record of 15 wins in 62 Championship games under the former West Indies captain which is at the forefront of his thoughts.

He said: “We have underachieved in four-day cricket across the board –there are no two ways about it. We have a deep-seeded desire to represent ourselves better than we have shown.”

In April, Adams targeted eight wins from their 16 games to help ensure Kent’s promotion from LV= County Championship, Division 2, however, four wins later, their 161 points was 93 short of the second promotion spot and Adams' side were third-bottom.

He added: “Make no mistake, I share everyone’s desire to get up to Division 1 in four-day cricket. I have enjoyed our development in the shorter formats but want to see us tangibly moving forward towards Division 1 cricket.

“We found the blueprint towards the end of the season but left it far too late. Let’s make sure we hit the ground running next year.”

He said: “We have to look at the season in separate portions. At one point this season I thought we were playing the best cricket in the country. If you’d said that two years ago, I doubt anyone would have believed you.

“We have an aching sense of disappointment at not going further than the quarter-finals in the shorter forms. We have a squad capable of going beyond that stage. It gives us extra motivation next season.

“It is exciting, seeing the progress over that time. We have made great strides.

“If you’d said at the start of the season we’d be playing some of the best T20 and one-day cricket in the country I’d have taken it but it is not a case of one format or the other – I am not using one to cover the other.”

Adams claims he is still learning as a coach, adding: “There are a lot of areas in which we need to improve and we need to take lessons from the season. You can bank on individuals getting better and being smarter but that starts with us as coaches.

“All of us are learning every day. As coaches we are learning about players and ourselves and we can draw on that for the future. It’s important that we remain teachable and not stand still.”

Adams has another year on his contract but would love to stay longer, adding: “I am excited about next season. Kent fans can definitely be optimistic.”