Kent had relegation from County Championship Division 1 confirmed as they were well beaten by Nottinghamshire in Canterbury on Thursday.

They lost six second-innings wickets inside the first hour on another awful day and, although Joey Evison (42) and West Indian overseas player Akeem Jordan (32) dug in to ensure Nottinghamshire had to bat again, the visitors cruised across the line by 10 wickets.

It means the 2025 season will be Kent’s first in Division 2 since before the Covid pandemic after eight red-ball defeats - and a solitary win - from 12 games this term, along with a mere nine batting points.

Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond said: “It’s been a really tough season.

“Today kind of summed up where we are as a team this year.

“We started the day as optimistic as possible. Getting the win was the only option that we had, and we had some good chats, but it fell apart in that first session this morning.

“It just wasn’t to be but that sums up our season as a whole.”

After they had made it to 85-0 in their second innings the previous evening, Matt Walker’s men had given themselves the slightest slither of hope of the unlikely victory they required.

But Tawanda Muyeye went cheaply in the day’s first over for 60 in a sign of what was to come in another morning to forget for Kent.

The 23-year-old, who Walker revealed had picked up an overnight bug, top-edged Jacob Duffy (4-60) into the air, attempting a characteristically aggressive shot, and was caught behind.

And Muyeye’s opening batting partner, Ben Compton, was adjudged to have been trapped in front by Lyndon James (1-43) to leave Kent 115-2.

Next to go was Jack Leaning, who nicked behind a peach by New Zealand overseas bowler Duffy.

Bell-Drummond had played some nice shots and, with Joe Denly, looked to have decided attack was the best form of defence.

But a change of bowling worked for Nottinghamshire as Denly was left punching his bat in frustration after he had edged Rob Lord (3-42) through to Freddie McCann in the slips.

With Kent still 75 runs behind making the away team bat again, Bell-Drummond succumbed to a Duffy beauty for 21 from 20 balls to leave the hosts 133-5.

Everything was going Nottinghamshire’s way and - still inside the first hour of play - a sensational grab by wicketkeeper Dane Schadendorf off Lord’s bowling saw Harry Finch go for a third-ball duck.

Evison and Matt Parkinson did offer some semblance of Kent resistance, however, and the latter scored his first run of the game shortly before midday off his 50th ball of the match.

The 27-year-old had offered a 29-ball duck the previous day but did get nine this time before he fell to a smart catch by McCann from the spin of 16-year-old Farhan Ahmed (2-53). That left Kent 156-7 - still 52 runs adrift of Nottinghamshire’s first-innings total.

Evison still remained, though, and delivered some decent blows alongside Jordan. They ensured Kent were trailing by 12 runs at lunch.

Jordan pulled Duffy for six to bring up the 50-run partnership and a single from Evison ensured Kent avoided a fifth innings defeat of their red-ball summer.

But the home side lost an eighth wicket in the same over when Jordan was trapped lbw by Ahmed.

Nathan Gilchrist then had his off-stump castled by a snorter by one-time Kent player Duffy for a third-ball duck to effectively leave Kent 1-9.

That left Evison to try and shepherd the strike as much as he could from No.11 George Garrett while trying to manufacture some kind of “total” for the away team to be left to chase.

He did fairly well, putting on 21 runs with Garrett (4 not out), as he offered a couple of maximums, before he went when he was caught off Lord’s bowling.

Kent had Jaydn Denly and Jas Singh - on his 22nd birthday - on as substitute fielders, with the visitors needing 23 runs to win.

It took Nottinghamshire 3.3 overs to get to their paltry target, Ben Slater (22 not out) wrapping things up with a maximum. Skipper Haseeb Hameed was unbeaten on six.

Outgoing head coach Walker reflected: “I think this summed up our season, really, in one game.

“This is a pattern that has happened all year.

“A poor start to the game was followed by some resistance in parts and then there was another very poor session, which it’s impossible to come back from. That’s been the tale of the tape, really, this season.

“We haven’t been relegated because of this game - it’s a combination of performances from the fourth or fifth game onwards. This probably tells you everything about where we have been this year, watching this game of cricket.

“I actually thought it was a very good cricket wicket.

“We wanted to offer something that had a little bit more in it for the seamers and we had the luxury of winning the toss, which was a good toss to win under lights with grey skies, but, unfortunately, those two hours weren’t the start that you need.

“You don’t often lose the game in the first session - but you can set the tempo. With a par score of 250 or maybe 300 on that pitch, they have gone comfortably past that. We haven’t been able to recover.

“It’s a disappointing end. There was the sort of slow torture of hanging on in there - but it’s done now.

“We know where we’re at. You get what you deserve.

“That’s sport and, certainly, the statistics don’t lie, the table doesn’t lie and performances don’t lie.

“We haven’t been good enough - and the rest is history.”

Basement boys Kent’s miserable campaign will come to a close at Durham from next Thursday in Walker’s final match in charge.