Sam Northeast hopes to make his second Kent first-class debut on Friday as the County Championship season opens for 2026 as the county make the long trip to the north east to face Durham. 

Speaking to KSN at Kent’s recent media day, Northeast told us, “It’s been eight or nine years and I am looking forward to it – it’s been a good amount of time, but it feels right to come back to Canterbury and finish the last chapter of my career back where it started!”

“It’s a nice feeling going into a season – exciting, it feels fresh in a lot of ways, but also feels the same in some ways; I am excited to get started and playing cricket!” 

“There’s still the same feel to the St Lawrence as there always has been – the players have turned over but some are the same – Deebs (Daniel Bell-Drummond), Joe (Denly) and Sam (Billings) – so, there’s a nice feeling about the place at the moment!” 

In his time away from Kent, Northeast’s name cropped up on numerous occasions to represent England, but the call never came.

Reflecting he admitted, “Of course the goal is always to play for England, and maybe I will be disappointed at the end of my career that I didn’t, but at the moment, County Cricket has been my life, I’ve enjoyed it, I have loved it and trying new things for different Counties and then coming back to home!”

“It’s been my job for how many years now,” Northeast continued. “I still love batting, still love competing and for me the ultimate test is still the Championship and testing myself every year and trying to get better as that’s what it is all about.”

“Yes it is a challenge but on the face of it you look at where Kent finished last year, we’ve a long way to go. But I think that we have a good enough squad that we can compete for the Division Two crown this year, and that’s good being part of something that you really feel can go somewhere!” 

“When I realised coming back was a possibility after a conversation with Simon Cook, if the situation was right and it would work on the family front as well as the cricket front, the coach, the Captain (Adam Hollioake and Bell-Drummond) wanted me back in the Club, not only through scoring runs, but also help the place get going again with the youngsters and the like, hopefully adding a bit of stability to what we already had.”

“It then made sense to come back from the cricket side and family lifestyle it really does feel like a good fit!” 

“The warmth that the fans have shown since I have been back is phenomenal. For it to be eight years, people would have forgotten the first spell, but to be welcomed back the way I have is truly wonderful and I cannot thank people enough. It’s nice to come back to such warmth…” 

“I still have the motivation to do things in the game and to lead Kent back to where they should be!” 

Day One of the 2026 County Championship starts Friday morning… 

Picture supplied by Kent Cricket.