Kent CCC cannot say when cricket will return to the Mote

Kent say it’s too early to speculate on whether the new extended one-day programme in 2010 will mean the return of county cricket to Maidstone next year.

The county haven’t played first class cricket at The Mote since being deducted eight points by the ECB for a poor pitch after beating Gloucestershire by seven wickets with a day to spare in June 2005.

The publication of the 2010 fixture list on Thursday sees the introduction of two new competitions, the Friends Provident T20 competition and the ECB 40 League, involving the 18 first class counties, Scotland, Netherlands and an ECB Recreational Xl.

With work due to start on their delayed £8million re-development of their headquarters at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, Kent will again take Twenty20 cricket around the county – and a return to Maidstone could be on the agenda.

Chief executive Paul Millman said: "We will be looking at all our options but nothing is ruled in or out at the moment. We have never said we wouldn’t ever go back but it’s all about timing and logistics.

"We want to spread Twenty20 cricket far and wide and The Mote is part of that thinking but that’s as far as it goes at the moment."

Maidstone hosted two Twenty20 matches in July 2004, pulling in big crowds on both occasions, and the county have always been well supported in West Kent, with full houses at The Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells and Beckenham last season.

Kent host Nottinghamshire at The Nevill starting on June 4 next year, with Essex and Leicestershire providing the opposition in Canterbury Week which begins on August 3.