Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford has defended being open and honest about the club’s financial position.

As work began this week on the long-awaited redevelopment project, Mr Clifford (pictured) stressed the club had made the right decision.

He said: "Our position is incredibly public but county cricket is under stress.

"Our position has almost become magnified because people are talking about it. According to one paper at the weekend, we’re on the edge of the precipice.

"That’s ironic, really, because what we’ve got is a tremendous amount of hope and vision. Were it not for the redevelopment project, we’d have quite a big problem.

"But we’ve got an opportunity to reinvest in our whole infrastructure that should lead us to a much stronger position."

The start of construction work will not impinge on the club’s playing budget.

Mr Clifford added: "There’s two sides to running the business – the day-to-day profit and loss, in which the players sit, and the day-to-day running of the club.

"Then there’s this separate, although linked, project which is about capital.

"The two are independent of each other and one should secure the long-term profit and loss side of the business.

"We’re clear the two shouldn’t mix and it would be tempting to say ‘well, we’ve got all this money now, let’s go and buy some new players.’

"It doesn’t work like that. This is about long-term investment for long-term gain that should allow us to be a much stronger club in the future."