IT JUST about sums up Kent’s dreary limited overs’ campaign when you note that their most exhilarating performance of 2004 was also their first.

Relegated in the totesport League for the first time, humbled by Warwickshire in the third round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy and humiliated in the Twenty20 Cup - this was one-day cricket at its worst.

In terms of one-day cricket, Kent need a close-season re-think. Leadership is the first issue to be addressed and captain David Fulton must take some of the blame for his side taking the drop. Too often he batted at five, six or seven, the result; an aggregate of 249 runs at an average of 22.54.

Matt Walker under-performed too, yet with his excellent fielding and leadership experience he adds value to the side and would win my backing to captain Spitfires in one-day cricket next summer, allowing Fulton to concentrate on the longer format.

The county must also look to replace the dynamic, yet stubborn Symonds and ensure a more settled look to their limited overs side.

Kent had attractive stroke-players at the top of the batting order in Ed Smith, Andrew Symonds, Michael Carberry and Alex Loudon and wiser-heads in the middle, like Fulton and Walker.

The bowling department also appeared capable if Martin Saggers, Amjad Khan, Mohammad Sami and Ben Trott remained fit and in form, but few wanted to admit the gaping chasm created by Mark Ealham’s defection to Nottinghamshire, Kent’s best batting anchorman and ‘at the death’ bowler of the decade. Just three bowlers took league wickets or more this summer.

Eventual champions Glamorgan have enjoyed much success by bowling spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker in tandem mid-way through their fielding stints, so Kent followed suit with James Tredwell and Robert Ferley.

Yet it was the extreme pace of Sami that got Kent out of jail in late April’s opening league encounter at home to Gloucestershire.

The Karachi Express had flown into Heathrow at 7am that morning, but overcame fatigue and jet-lag to claim six for 20 in what transpired to be his best stint of an injury-hit summer.

Having compiled a mere 175 on a tricky pitch, Kent appeared down and out as Gladiators reached 173 for eight. But with two required for victory in Sami’s final over, Jonathan Lewis edged to Geraint Jones and Mike Smith had his off stump uprooted to clinch the one-run win.

At Old Trafford newly-promoted Lancashire held their nerve to land a three-wicket success. Defending their battling target of 203, Kent successfully deployed Tredwell and Ferley mid-innings to claim four Red Rose wickets.

But this time Sami was unable to prevent Warren Hegg from steering the winning boundary in the final over.

Three days later Kent headed south to Reading for their opening C&G tie against Berkshire, but it became clear that the waterlogged Sonning Lane club ground would be unfit for play. The match was put back 24 hours and moved to St Lawrence where Kent polished off the job within 61 overs.

A fortnight later, the fragility of Kent’s batting order cost them a 65-run defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire Steelbacks.

Without Symonds, who had been whisked away to play in Zimbabwe, the resting Sami and Geraint Jones who started his summer with England, Kent played like a rag-tag outfit. They bowled four spinners to restrict Steelbacks to 211, only to be dismissed for 146.

It was not ideal preparation for taking on their cup bogey side Warwickshire at Edgbaston, a game that ended in a nine-wicket drubbing.

Under leaden skies, Carberry and Smith’s poor run continued at the top of the order, Key was stupidly run out and only Fulton with 78 passed 50 as Kent succumbed for 211. A stand worth 183 between Nick Knight and Mark Wagh that eased the Bears home with almost six overs in hand.

It came as a blessed relief that Kent’s league game with Hampshire at The Rose Bowl 48-hours later fell foul to the weather. Fulton again top-scored, this time with just 39, as Spitfires were restricted to 169 for nine before the heavens opened to wash out the Hawks reply.

To their credit Kent shrugged off their poor form to land a four and one-day double over Lancashire in Tunbridge Wells at the start of June. Though Smith was dropped, Saggers and Jones away with England calls and Sami, Min Patel and Ferley out injured, Kent were buoyed by the return of Symonds, who played a masterly innings of 146 from 110-balls to help post 301.

The Queenslander hit 17 fours and four sixes in his first limited overs century in England, it was also Kent’s highest one-day innings eclipsing Carl Hooper’s 145 at Grace Road eight years earlier. Symonds then grabbed two for 55 as Kent completed their 56-run triumph to move up to fourth.

A more complete team performance helped Kent to an impressive five wicket away win over a strangely toothless Surrey Lions. A rookie Spitfires team excelled against a side containing six internationals and successfully chased Surrey’s 231 to win with seven balls to spare.

Half-centuries from Carberry and Loudon set up the chase, leaving Fulton and Walker to all-but complete the task with a stand of 96.

Kent made it three wins from as many starts at Beckenham where they just about held off the weather and a spirited Warwickshire to land a 10-run win under the Duckworth/Lewis method. Set to chase 234 from 45 overs, Kent reached 140 for two thanks to an excellent 81 from the re-called Smith.

Kent turned to club side Lashings to recruit Pakistan pinch-hitter Shahid Afridi to bolster their ranks for the Twenty20 Cup campaign, a risky strategy that backfired.

Fulton opted to take up a commentary stint with Sky Sports and handed over the captaincy to Symonds, whose decision to drop Smith from the squad for their five cup qualifiers also came back to haunt the county.

Though Symonds clubbed an astonishing 112 from 43 balls to inspire a seven-wicket win over Middlesex in Maidstone, the Australian’s gung ho attitude to the format would eventually cost Kent a quarter-final place.

Their totesport League clash with Essex at The Mote was washed out and then, 24 hours later, the Eagles landed an emphatic eight-wicket cup win.

Symonds and Afridi went cheaply and the rest followed as Kent were shot out for 125.

Later that week Key’s assertive 66 from 38 balls just failed to inspire Kent to victory at The Oval where cup holders Surrey, defending 185, held out to secure a three-run win.

Likeable Kiwi Ian Butler arrived as locum for Sami in time to make his debut in Kent’s 47-run win over Sussex that re-kindled hopes of qualification. The pace bowler became an instant hit with the St Lawrence crowd by taking three wickets and as many catches to skittle Sussex out for 116 as they pursued Kent’s 163.

A place in the last eight hinged on success at The Rose Bowl, but inexplicably the first team coach, captain, club chief executive, chairman and committee failed to make the trip in support of their side, who played dreadfully to lose by 64 runs.

The Hawks were allowed to post an impressive 177 by some wayward Kent bowling, idiosyncratic field placing and shoddy catching. Symonds then shuffled the batting order for an all guns blazing reply that failed miserably.

Three days later Spitfires slid to their third totesport defeat of the campaign when Surrey secured a rain-affected, four-wicket win in Canterbury.

In a game reduced to 34 overs a side, Smith celebrated his re-call with 61 as Kent made 192 only to allow the star-studded Lions to edge home with two balls to spare having conceded 21 extras in a lethargic fielding display.

Floodlights and the Sky cameras made no difference to Kent’s performance 72 hours later when Shane Warne inspired Hampshire’s 22-run win in front of a near 6,000 St Lawrence crowd. The wizard wrist spinner bagged three for 24 to dismiss Spitfires for 124 as they chased the Hawks’ paltry 146 on a tricky pitch.

Cheltenham College was a sell-out for Kent’s August visit to take on Gloucestershire, who were inspired to a six-wicket win Michael Hussey’s fluent ton.

Spitfires had arrived in turmoil. Butler was injured, Symonds had left under a cloud blaming an ankle injury for his speedy departure, while chairman of cricket, Mike Denness, had quit.

Smith (70) and Michael Bevan, with one of his few innings’ of note, led Kent to 226 - a total they failed to defend in such a small arena.

Kent’s losing streak increased to six games at Edgbaston where fellow strugglers Warwickshire cantered to a six-wicket league win. Rolled over for 135 inside 38 overs, Kent capitulated in the field allowing Bears home inside 25 overs.

The word relegation was no longer being whispered after Kent’s mystifyingly ill-timed run-chase in Colchester that led to a 35-run reverse to Essex. An opening stand worth 196 in 33 overs between Will Jefferson and Irani helped Eagles post 267 for six from their 45 overs.

Fulton, opening for the first time, and Smith added 73 in 14 overs, but Smith’s run out and Bevan’s reluctance to shoulder the run-chase responsibility saw the wheels fall off horribly.

Loudon's 52 from 75 balls was never likely to be enough and though Bevan eventually hit a half-century, it proved to be his last innings for the county.

Kent kept mathematical hopes alive in Cardiff where Butler, in his final appearance, hit a last ball six to clinch a dramatic one-run win.

But the inevitable followed in Canterbury on September 7 when Kent were again startled under floodlights in allowing fellow-strugglers Northamptonshire a four-run win.

Smith broke down in tears having hit a stunning 106 in a losing cause as Spitfires fell just short of Steelbacks’ 219 for seven. It may transpire to have been Smith’s last one-day innings for his beloved Kent, the sadness is he will have taken no pleasure from the standing ovation afforded him that evening.