Jimmy Adams says Kent’s players and supporters can afford to dream about silverware and a return to the top-table of Championship cricket, just so long as they don’t take their eyes off the prize.

The Kent head coach admitted thoughts of a late-season assault on the promotion places in LV= County Championship Division 2, and the prospect of a run to the Lord’s final of the Royal London One-Day Cup were never far from the back of his mind.

He said: “The thought’s always there. For most of us the thought is there somewhere. I think it’s a good thing, we just have to manage it.

“We’ve come through a tough first half of the season. If guys want to sit and dream about winning, I’d never stop them, but we have to make sure we don’t lose the ability to focus on the here and now.

He added: “Supporters having ambition too is not a bad thing, I’d much rather have them dreaming about Kent winning than losing.”

Wednesday's 59-run win over Sussex in the first game of the 163rd Canterbury Cricket Week all but guaranteed Kent of a home quarter-final, with next Wednesday’s visit of Middlesex still to come, while Kent go into Friday’s game against Hampshire seeking a fourth straight Championship win for the first time in 17 years.

Adams admitted ‘confidence is certainly a component’ of the good run which has seen Kent unbeaten in nine games in all competitions and with one defeat in 12 all-told.

He said: “You won’t get very far at any level without that self belief. There is a heightened level of confidence collectively in the group. Hopefully that will continue.

“What follows on from it is individuals who will probably achieve more.”

He added: “It’s hard to put a finger on what led to that first result – it could be four or five different issues – but what’s pleasing to me is the attitude and collective character to start something like this in the middle of the season.

“We had some results that didn’t go our way so for guys to have over-ridden that, not given in, kept believing that better would come and got to where we are now is a testament to the group having something about them. That’s what pleases me most. Whatever we’re building here, that has to be the foundation.”