Kent captain Rob Key hopes his side’s first defeat of the season will serve as a wake-up call as they head into a crucial part of the summer.

A four-wicket defeat to the Unicorns in the Clydesdale Bank Pro40 ended Kent’s unbeaten run as they head into today’s (Wednesday) LV= County Championship clash with Leicestershire at St Lawrence.

Key was one of several batsmen guilty of throwing their wicket away on Sunday and the skipper is keen that his team put the poor showing behind them as they look to go into next month’s Friends Life T20 campaign still in contention at the top of Division 2 in the championship.

Key said: "It was an ordinary day with the bat. We played poorly. It was a belter of a pitch and we should have been looking at 230-240, especially against that attack and then somehow we managed to self destruct and slip to 50-5 which was appalling.

"For how good a pitch it was, it makes it even worse that we were all out for 165. We are disappointed because it is a game we should have won and should have been two from two."

With the weather playing its part in Kent drawing five of their six championship games, including last week’s home clash with Northants, Key admits it has been a frustrating start but is pleased his side are still third and within touching distance of leaders Derbyshire.

He said: "Most people are playing well and the bowling unit is good.So far it’s been a decent start and we couldn’t have done a huge amount more because of the rain.

"Nearly every game, bar the last one against Northants, we have had an innings lead so there is not much more you can do in four-day cricket than that."