KENT’S former Leicestershire wicketkeeper Paul Nixon was as disappointed as any of the Spitfires’ side at Sunday's dismal Grace Road display that handed a 17-run win to the title-chasing Foxes.

Back on the ground he graced for 11 years until joining Kent three summers ago, Nixon and the Kent side under performed in most categories of the game to slide to the fourth defeat of their Norwich Union League title defence.

"It wasn’t the home homecoming I expected and I’m disappointed all-round really," said the Kent gloveman afterwards. "It wasn’t the best wicket for a one-day game and we started off under par. We bowled the wrong length to Daffy DeFreitas at the start there and we were on the back foot from there.

"We got ourselves back into it with some tight bowling from Mark Ealham, Matthew Fleming and James Golding but let it slip away at the end with Darren Maddy at the crease, he played positively and rode his luck and they ended up with 25 too many.

"I reckon par score for that pitch was 180 or thereabouts so 206 was a few too many."

Apart from criticising the pitch, Nixon and the Kent side felt they were also on the wrong end of some controversial leg before decisions by match umpires Vanburn Holder and Tim Robinson.

"There were one or two harsh lbws and I thought Andy Symonds and Rob Key had poor decisions, and that was the heart of our batting gone," added Nixon. "We knew it was going to be a slow, hard-work pitch but we just kept losing wickets at vital times.

"Jimmy Golding and Geraint played nicely at the end and credit to them that they really did think they could still win it, had we scored a few more runs up the front of the innings then we could have just edged it at the end there, but that’s cricket.

"But it’s good for the future of Kent that those two young guys have got the self-belief and the ability to win those sort if games in the future. Realistically this title’s lost now, but there are exciting times ahead in the championship and the C&G Trophy so we need to lift ourselves quickly."