Kent County Cricket Club
As the team built around Pilch retired from cricket the fortunes of the club declined, the county sometimes forced to field teams of up to 16 or to combine with other clubs in order to compete. Financial difficulties followed and on 1 March 1859 a second county club was formed in Maidstone to support the Canterbury-based club. The two clubs, the Canterbury club known as East Kent, the Maidstone club as West Kent, co-operated to an extent, although the relationship was later described as "anything but satisfactory". The standard of cricket played by the county side, generally organised by the West Kent club, remained poor and the county found it difficult to attract either the best amateur players or professionals to appear, many amateurs only willing to appear during Canterbury Cricket Week. Financial difficulties also caused problems producing competitive sides. An 1870 meeting chaired by the 3rd Lord Harris at the Bull Inn at Rochester saw the two clubs merge to form the present day Kent County Cricket Club.
White Hart Field
Teams representing Kent played two matches on the ground in 1841 and 1842 against an England team. The second match, which took place in August 1842, marks the first match which Kent County Cricket Club played after the official formation of the club during the 1842 Canterbury Cricket Week. These two matches were retrospectively awarded first-class cricket status. The final recorded match on the ground took place in 1847 when the Gentlemen of Kent played the Gentlemen of Surrey. The ground was the home ground of Bromley Cricket Club between 1856 and 1886.