By Oliver Brett

It was unpleasant and hurtful but I'm not going to go over it again - the truth will get out eventually Ed Smith Former Kent batsman

It is hard to imagine that Kent - a county with a ground so quaint it has a lime tree inside the boundary - could have such vitriol bubbling beneath the surface.

But to a background of back-stabbing, resignations, the departure of England batsman Ed Smith to Middlesex, and general all-round bitchiness, Kent had no equals in the summer of 2004.

The soap opera began not at Canterbury's St Lawrence Ground, however, but at another attractive provincial outpost - New Road, Worcester, in June.

Regular captain David Fulton was injured so Smith led the team in his absence.

The holder of a double-first degree in history from Cambridge University, Smith is hardly an archetypal county pro.

His published diary of the 2003 season, in which he regularly passes comments about team-mates, did not go down well with some members of the Kent dressing-room

Insurgency in the ranks followed and, although the details remain hazy, Australian international Andrew Symonds and England regular Rob Key were to the fore.

Both were named by Kent's official website when it published the minutes of a post-season members' forum.

This is highly relevant. Graham Johnson, the new chairman of the club, is not one to brush things under the carpet.

Team harmony was not always apparent at Kent in 2003

But who said or did what to who?

Reflecting on events now, Smith told BBC Sport: "What's happened has happened and some people did some things wrong.

"It was unpleasant and hurtful but I'm not going to go over it again. The truth will get out eventually and there's no reason to do anything to hasten it.

"What I am trying to do is give Kent the space to do the right thing themselves."

Club chairman Mike Denness offered to take responsibility for handling the Worcester incident.

He held numerous meetings but chose not to take any action. Instead, Denness handed in his resignation in July.

Everyone will be made very clear as to where the buck stops Graham Johnson New club chairman

Johnson took over and immediately began to impose himself.

In the official members forum minutes, Johnson states: "I re-assessed the [Worcester] matter and I am able to confirm that action has now been taken against the players concerned.

"Should a similar incident occur in the future, action will be taken very quickly."

A few weeks after Worcester, the Twenty20 Cup was high on the agenda.

Fulton was not fit to return to action and the captaincy passed, bizarrely, to Symonds.

Feature: Why fans love to watch Symonds

Fulton told the forum: "The full details of the events at Worcester had not come out, and I told [Symonds] that it was his team for the duration of the competition, and that I gave him my backing 100%.

"In hindsight, this was a bad call as Andrew then decided that Ed was not in his selection plans."

Kent won just two matches in the mid-summer competition but surprisingly still finished as runners-up in the County Championship.

I'm a Kent fan and I feel the way Smith was treated was awful From EM Have your say on TMS

Symonds will not be back in 2005 due to Australia's international commitments.

And a third batsman joining Symonds and Smith through the exit door is the promising youngster Alex Loudon.

Fulton continues as captain but Kent are currently lacking a director of cricket, not to mention a handful of batsmen.

If they are to move on from last year, their efforts off the field will have to mirror those on it.