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.
List of Kent County Cricket Club players
The details are the player's usual name followed by the years in which he was active as a Kent player and then his name is given as it would usually appear on modern match scorecards. Note that many players represented other teams besides Kent. Current players are shown as active to the latest year in which they played for the club. The list excludes Second XI and other players who did not play for the club's first team. Players who represented the county before August 1842 are included only if they also played for the county club after its formation.