Kent county cricket teams matches at Town Malling between 1836 and 1841. The expense of running county games meant that Town Malling proved too small to support a county club, despite the large attendances that games attracted, and in 1842 Pilch moved to the Beverley club at Canterbury. Kent struggled against the prominence of Sussex in the early roundarm years but then enjoyed a glorious period in the middle of the century. Rowland Bowen has recorded that a Maidstone newspaper in 1837 described a match between Kent and Nottinghamshire as for the County Championship. This is the earliest known use of the term although
Kent County Cricket Club first Canterbury Cricket Week. The new Kent club played its initial first-class cricket match against All-England at White Hart Field in Bromley on 25–27 August 1842. Initially the success of the club continued, with Kent being declared champion county again in 1843, 1847 and 1849 and in 1847 the club began using the St Lawrence Ground on the other side of Canterbury, Pilch once again moving to be the groundsman. This was later established as the county's formal headquarters, although Kent continued to play matches on a variety of grounds around the county until well into the 20th century, rarely