County Championship 2026: Will faith healer help Kent launch promotion push? Division Two preview and predictions

If Kent are to mount a promotion push this season, perhaps it can be attributed to the faith healer head coach Adam Hollioake deployed to "ward off evil spirits" at their home ground in Canterbury after a raft of injuries over recent years.

Yes, that actually happened, with the county confirming a "non-denominational geopathic surveyor" visited during the winter.

It would be easy to tease Kent for this but surely anything that can get the side in a better frame of mind after back-to-back dismal seasons has to be a good thing, right?

They have won just three matches in red-ball cricket across the last two campaigns, following relegation from Division One at the end of 2024 with a rock-bottom finish in the second tier 12 months later, so what chance of a turnaround in 2026?

We assess the teams in County Championship Division Two…

If they can shake off that disappointment, they should be a real force with veteran West Indies seamer Kemar Roach around for the first half of the summer to support Ben Raine, Matthew Potts and promising left-arm James Minto.

A batting line-up containing England hopefuls Emilio Gay and Ben McKinney, England alumnus Alex Lees and South Africa's David Bedingham should provide oodles of runs.

Two Lancashire stalwarts are at the helm now in coach Steven Croft and skipper James Anderson, with the latter backed up in the seam-bowling ranks by the off-season acquisition of the zippy Ajeet Singh Dale from Gloucestershire.