KENT’S new four-day skipper David Fulton took several plusses from his side’s draw in the Frizzell County Championship curtain-raiser with Hampshire.

Though bat dominated ball throughout, Fulton was content with his team’s all-round performance, particularly in the wake of the injury crisis that forced Mark Ealham, Martin Saggers and Ben Trott to sit out the match.

Fulton said: "There are lots of positives to be taken out of a game that was played on a very good Canterbury cricket wicket. It was a great pitch, sunny throughout, so the ball didn’t swing and we ran into John Crawley who was highly motivated to do well in the first game for his new county.

"We felt we had Neil Johnson early in his innings. Had that been given, and had we got Crawley as well, then it might have been a different game all together.

"After we posted 577 we were always bossing the game and only one side were capable of winning even though they went past us in the end."

Fulton was also happy with the championship debuts of pace bowler Amjad Khan and former Middlesex seamer James Hewitt. He said: "Amjad bowled some good spells, David Masters enjoyed an extended run out and Hewitt put in some good stints, particularly the one at Johnson when we felt he just feathered one through to Paul Nixon.

"Amjad has grown up a lot as a person and a cricketer. He’s still only 21 and has willingness to work and looked our best chance of knocking a few over quickly. He certainly has the pace and really looks a find for the future."

As for having to skipper the side throughout 195 overs of a record Hampshire innings, Fulton added: "It was a great challenge for me and in many ways a good way for me to start.

"Had our bowlers gone in and rolled them over I may have thought captaincy was all a little too easy, but we do play our cricket in Canterbury on good pitches and that’s the way I feel we should play the game in this country.

"England will produce better players because of it, the batsmen will be playing on good surfaces and scoring runs, while the bowlers will have to either bowl quick or spin, swing and seam it prodigiously to get people out. Hopefully the days of knocking teams over for 150 and 180 may be gone if we get four days of sunshine and continue playing on pitches like that one."

Kent return to action on Friday with the start of their three-day challenge game with Sri Lanka. Admission on Saturday’s open day is free, but championship rates apply on Friday and Sunday.