“I wasn’t confident at all last year and even after three games this year, I was questioning myself as a coach and I think all the players were questioning themselves as well, so it’s been a pretty remarkable turnaround and credit to all the players for the way they’ve responded.

“[As a coach] it’s really easy to stand there and tell people what they should be doing, but it’s actually really hard to go out there and actually do it, so the players deserve all of the credit.

“Their ability this year to go out and execute the plans and pick themselves up, after what was a really tough start to the season, has been the main reason for our turnaround and our success.”

Four Kent batters scored 700 or more Championship runs during the 2026 season, with Sam Northeast leading the way on 890, while seamers Matt Milnes (54) and Keith Dudgeon (42) were their leading wicket-takers.

Hollioake said that while promotion was an achievement to be celebrated by everyone at the club, he joked that the “grumpy old man” in him would point to Kent finishing 12th of the 18 first-class counties in 2026.

Therefore, he is looking towards bigger challenges ahead.

“The work begins now when we get up to Division One,” said Hollioake, who appeared in four Tests and 35 one-day internationals for England during his playing career.

“We’ll enjoy this but we’ve got to keep on improving.”