WHEN Glamorgan famously won the 1997 championship title they fielded only 14 players, 13 of which were Welsh or England-qualified.

Clearly, the back-room team at Sophia Gardens that year knew their staff, understood their capabilities, strengths and frailties, and were prepared to back that 14 to the hilt.

Seven years down the line cricket is a much-changed sport, but at Kent the game and the way it is managed appears to have altered beyond all recognition.

Overseas players - Kent have sponsored five of them to date this summer - come and go without bye or leave, a couple of them under a cloud and having under-achieved.

Meanwhile, a string of seven successive defeats heralded the end of the honeymoon period for the county’s three-man coaching set up, while the defection of Mike Denness as chairman of cricket was left unexplained to the membership after a poor attempt at simply sweeping it under the committee room carpet.

As for selection policy, that has resembled a game of ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ leaving supporters to believe the club’s coaching staff still do not know their best 11.

By the mid-point of the 2004 campaign Kent have fielded all 21 players on their books and four others to boot in Michael Bevan, Rob Joseph, Ian Butler and Shahid Afridi – taking the grand total to 25 – eight of who cannot play for England.

The captain may believe that is healthy as the youngsters are getting their chances. But for that to be so, it means senior players are either underachieving, injured or loitering with a distinct lack of intent in the 2nd XI.

The point is, Kent have already played their full hand, there are no aces up the sleeve. So I wonder what card they plan to play next in their bid to end this dreadful run of results?

If selection is questionable, then so is the club’s recruitment policy over the last three or four seasons.

Surely an overseas pro available for the entire campaign has to be better value than the expensive two-month locum Kent tend to employ. My money would go on the likes of Lancashire’s Carl Hooper, Stuart Law and Mushtaq Ahmed with Murray Goodwin, who helped Sussex to their first title last year.

In the past recruitment from other counties has yielded excellent performers like Martin Saggers and, at the start of this, Michael Carberry, but more recently Kent’s transfer business has been questionable.

Alan Wells, Peter Trego and Jamie Hewitt all flopped, while the jury remains out when it comes to Ben Trott and Alamgir Sheriyar, who continue to frustrate through inconsistency.

After their disastrous Twenty20 campaign the club bemoaned the lack of an international-class batsman and a nailed-on ‘at the death’ bowler, yet they were prepared to allow Mark Ealham to move to Trent Bridge for the sake of a year’s contract.

At this rate, Ealham will be beaming come September when Nottinghamshire win one of the three promotion berths in Division 1 vacated by Kent – and who could blame him?

Coach Simon Willis has asked for patience, reasoning that he was occasionally fielding a side with only four caps between them.

A fair point perhaps, but Kent's faithful have had their resolve tested to the full. Isn't 26 years without a championship title long enough?