Kent bosses have got their fingers crossed for a period of good weather ahead of next month’s Friends Life t20 series after revealing gates were down by a third for the first two months of the season.

Rain has also curtailed Kent’s bright start on the pitch, with the club having registered five draws from their opening six LV= County Championship games of the season but what will be of most concern is the effect it has had on the county’s financial future.

The county have played three Championship and one Clydesdale Bank Pro40 game so far at Canterbury and Kent chief executive, Jamie Clifford, has admitted crowds are down for this time of year.

He said: "In the broadest sense, it has been very much below what we would have hoped for. The weather has not done us any favours at all.

"The three championship games we have had, our attendances were down by as much as a third overall.

"The game against the Unicorns last Sunday was a different proposition because they are obviously not a county that you have long-standing rivalry with and again the weather didn’t help.

"I’m just desperate for the sun to shine. Crowds have been disappointing but I can’t blame people for that. The cricket has been good, the weather hasn’t."

Mr Clifford (pictured) expects next week’s floodlit game against Warwickshire at St Lawrence to attract a sizeable crowd and the Spitfires then embark on their t20 campaign, starting at Tunbridge Wells, on June 12 against Sussex.

He added: "In terms of gate revenues, there are some much bigger and important days to come and if this weather were during t20 period, then commercially it would be a real worry. At this time of year, you can just about get away with it."