Kent’s director of cricket wants to get to the root of why the club are not producing more homegrown seam bowlers.

Paul Downton has a responsibility for all cricket at Kent after being appointed to the post in February.

That includes the club’s academy system and producing players who go on to play for the county.

Mr Downton said: “We are producing a lot of wicket-keeper batsmen on our staff at the moment, which is great but where are our seam bowlers?

“The last seamer that we produced to become capped before Matt Coles was Alan Igglesden (in 1989).

“That tells a story. Are we just not producing fast bowlers here for a particular reason? We have to unpick that and uncover that.”

Mr Downton believes that more can be done with bringing cricketers through the academy system to play for the club.

For Kent to be sustainable for the future, there needs to be players coming through the youth ranks.

He said: “There’s so much we potentially can do with time and resource. It’s vital we are self-sustainable.

“The stats don’t lie as we have more registered cricketers in this county than anywhere other than Yorkshire. So there’s no reason we can’t produce cricketers for Kent and England.

“I’m keen that we get the people and systems in place. There’s no other reason for Kent existing than to find players within the county and develop them so they can represent the county and go on to play for England. That has to be the model.”

Mr Downton also hopes to leave a legacy at the Kent that will help in all aspects of the cricket club.

He added: “It’s about how we can maximise my resources and how can we be the best we can be and develop in the right way and right strategic decision so we can develop in the future.

“When this finishes and I come to look back, I hope you will see some progress from the grassroots right to the first team.”