Matt Walker admits it was Heino Kuhn who approached Joe Denly about taking over the Kent captaincy for this week’s game against Nottinghamshire.

The South African served as the club’s interim skipper while both Denly and Sam Billings were playing in the Indian Premier League earlier this season.

With Denly having struggled for runs since his return, the decision was made to give the England international the opportunity to focus entirely on his performances in the middle.

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Head coach Walker said: “It came from Heino (Kuhn) actually. He mentioned to Joe he would be happy to do it if he wanted to so that Joe could just concentrate on his batting.

“He’s done it this year for quite an extended period, it’s not a reflection on Joe’s captaincy at all because his captaincy is extremely good.

"Joe will have an impact still by being here and offering what you would do anyway.

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“It’s probably more the stuff around it, the media side and the other bits and bobs around being a captain that take up a bit of time.

"Joe has obviously been away from us for a little bit, he hasn’t played a huge amount of cricket.

“I think it’s fair to give him the best opportunity to score runs, he’s hopefully got an exciting summer ahead of him, he’s fighting for an Ashes spot.

"We want to give him the best opportunity to do that so it was very much led by them two.

“It was brought to me and it made sense, hopefully it gives Joe the opportunity to knuckle down and score some runs.”

The switch did not pay immediate dividends for Kent, though, with both men out cheaply on the first day against Notts at Tunbridge Wells on Monday.

It needed a second Championship century from Zak Crawley to rescue Kent's first innings at the picturesque Nevill Ground.

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