Paul Farbrace says the emergence of England under-19 captain Adam Ball has been one of the season’s big plusses for Kent.

Greenwich-born Ball (pictured) has broken through in much the same way Matt Coles did for the county last season, and director of cricket Farbrace says the 18-year-old left-armer is now an integral part of the squad.

He explained: “The encouraging thing with Adam is that he has stood up to be counted in every sense.

"I think the consistency ‘Bally’ has shown this season has made him the stand out player. Colesey was the stand out man last season and I think Bally has been the man this year.

“He goes from strength to strength, to the extent that you almost get disappointed now when something does not go well for him.

"At the start (of the season) we treated it as a bit of a bonus when things went well for him - now if things don’t go quite so well in a game you get disappointed and that shows how far he's come as a person and a cricketer in 12 months.”