THE future of Mark Ealham's Kent career seems to be in doubt after the apparent breakdown of contract talks.

The former England all-rounder, with almost 450 appearances in all forms of cricket for Kent, emerged from a meeting with county officials at Canterbury at the weekend refusing to go into detail.

"I don't want to comment just now and would like two or three days to think things through before saying any more," was all he would say.

Club policy dissuades Kent chief executive Paul Millman, chairman of cricket Mike Denness and club captain David Fulton from commenting on the talks, but it appears that Ealham's future may now lie elsewhere.

Ealham said last week he still hoped to end his career at St Lawrence, but confirmed he had refused the club's initial offer of a one-year contract with negotiable roll-over.

The winner of 64 one-day international caps also stressed he had not pushed for improved financial terms.

Ealham, 34, has played 173 first-class games for the county, scoring 11,227 runs at an average of 31.87 and has taken 396 wickets costing 28.35.

While Ealham's destiny remains a doubt, Kent have taken their first tentative steps toward squad strengthening by holding initial talks with Somerset seamer Steffan Jones and former target, Ryan Sidebottom of Yorkshire.