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.
Kent County Cricket Club in 2011
In 2011, Kent County Cricket Club competed in Division Two of the County Championship, Group A of the 40-over Clydesdale Bank 40 and the South Group of the Friends Life t20. Kent also hosted a Twenty20 match at the St Lawrence Ground against the touring Indians, and a three-day first-class MCC Universities match against Loughborough MCCU, also at the St Lawrence Ground. It was the second and final season in charge for Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace. The club captain was former England batsman Rob Key who had been club captain since 2006. Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz joined Kent as their overseas player in June, and another fast bowler, South African Charl Langeveldt, signed as Kent's second overseas player for the Friends Life t20 competition only.