KENT’S championship skipper David Fulton wants players and supporters to get behind the club’s push for the Frizzell Division 1 title and leave leadership issues to fend for themselves.

In his first interview since handing over the captaincy of the one-day side to his former housemate and firmest club-mate, Matthew Walker, 33-year-old Fulton says the decision to stand down was ultimately an easy one.

While conceding that having to sit out the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy quarter final in Birmingham dented his pride, Fulton remains determined to give the four-day title tilt his best shot.

Fulton said: "My position all along was that I should play in the quarter final and I pushed hard for that to happen.

"But as club captain if you don’t get into the best one-day team for such an important game then it becomes clear that you can no longer be limited overs skipper.

"If I’m not needed in the one-day side then it’s time to bow out and that was the case here.

"I don’t blame the coaches one little bit as they want to keep Kent on the right track, just as I do.

"The captain should be involved in picking the side and also one of the first names onto the team sheet, be it for four-day or one-day cricket, so once it was decided that I shouldn’t play me against Warwickshire my mind was made up to stand down.

"For me to continue after Edgbaston would only have caused confusion.

"The players need to know where the buck stops and to have that kind of scenario through me carrying on wasn’t in the best interests of the team."

Though clearly disappointed at being dropped from the side that took on but ultimately lost to Warwickshire, Fulton stands by the decision not to play in this year’s disastrous Twenty20 campaign.

He added: "Let’s face it, I wouldn’t have asked the coaches as to whether they thought I should play in the Twenty20s if there wasn’t already some doubt in my own mind.

"I knew we needed to get Michael Carberry into the side for the Twenty20s and it seemed right that I was the one to make way, so I was relaxed about that decision, it seemed to make sense.

"I thought I still had something to offer in the longer forms of one-day cricket but after talking it through with the coaching staff it was felt that this was the only way to move forward.

“Cricket is a game of opinions and I want our staff and players at Kent to have their own original opinions and thoughts on the game and, like me, to want what’s best for the club.

"I want to have people behind me who share my vision of what we might achieve here and you don’t do that by being a dictator.

"In many ways my decision to stand down as one-day captain strengthens our position in the championship as it takes away whatever confusion there might have been in the players’ minds over leadership issues," he added.

"I feel I’ve always captained from a position of strength in four-day cricket as my performances as a player and a captain are a lot stronger in that format of the game.

"No one’s questioning my championship credentials, I feel refreshed and unshackled now and I’m very much looking forward to the second half of the championship season."

Yet Fulton flatly refuses to look beyond this campaign, preferring to concentrate his efforts on the rest of this season.

He said: "I don’t think I can start talking about what next year may hold for me as a captain and it would be very presumptuous of me to do so.

"Professional sport can be a cut throat world at times and I will ultimately be judged on my performances as a captain from here on.

"I’m not looking past the remainder of this season, but if I can start contributing runs to what is already a strong top-order then we will have a pretty formidable championship batting line up and a real chance of winning it."