Kent County Cricket Club in 1906
After dominating county cricket in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, the players who made up Kent's great side of the 1840s had retired and by the 1850s the county had been reduced to often having to amalgamate with other sides to produce a challenging team. The formation of a County Club in Maidstone in 1859 and the amalgamation of this with the original Kent Cricket Club in 1870 to create the modern Kent County Cricket Club, provided the basis for re-emergence, although the club suffered from financial instability and Lord Harris's view was that Kent could not hope to compete at the level it once had throughout the 1870s and 1880s. When the County Championship was formerly established in 1890 Kent were initially able to finish only in mid table.
Old County Ground
It is a fine old ground in delightful surroundings and is blessed with excellent natural turf such as is rarely to be found on cricket grounds
– "The Times", 13 August 1926
The ground was bought by an anonymous benefactor at auction in August 1926 and later purchased by Kent County Council in 1929. It is still in use by Town Malling Cricket Club, who negotiated a 35-year lease with the council in 1987, with the option of purchasing the ground should the council wish to sell it. A new pavilion was opened by Kent cricketer Richard Ellison in 1992 and the lease was extended for another 100 years in 2016 after the ground had been purchased by West Malling Parish Council in 1994. Other than its continued use by Town Malling Cricket Club, it is also used regularly as the home ground of Town Malling United football club.