Black Caps seamer Matt Henry boosted his tally to 74 wickets from 10 matches in the County Championship, at an average of 14.67.

New Black Caps coach Gary Stead is impressed, but hardly surprised, at Matt Henry producing one of the more dominant English seasons by a New Zealand bowler.

The Canterbury seamer snared 8-98 for the match for Kent early on Friday (NZT) in their innings win over Glamorgan, which ensured promotion to division one of the County Championship with one round remaining.

It left Henry with 74 wickets from just 10 first-class matches for Kent, at an average of 14.67 and strike rate of 29.4 (better than one wicket every five overs). Sussex's Ollie Robinson, with 66 heading into the final day of their match against Warwickshire, was the next best in either division. Henry was also second-equal with 16 wickets at 34 in the 50-over competition.

GETTY IMAGES New Black Caps coach Gary Stead has long been an admirer of Matt Henry's bowling but says his wicket gorge in England isn't an automatic ticket into the top XI.

Henry's haul, on that impeccable top-of-off-stump line, betters some memorable New Zealand efforts in England in the past decade, albeit in division one. Jeetan Patel topped the charts in 2016 with 69 wickets at 24 for Warwickshire, and Andre Adams was top of the pops for Nottinghamshire in 2010 with 68 at 22.

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Stead knows Henry well in his former guise as Canterbury coach, when he at times bemoaned the 26-year-old's lack of chances with the national team for whom he's played nine tests and 35 ODIs.

"Matt's always been a skillful bowler and if you look at the Black Caps right now one of their strengths is their pace bowling stocks. That's a positive thing," Stead told Stuff.

"Sometimes you have to wait in the queue but he's applying the right amounts of pressure to say 'look at me, I'm still around and still in good form'."

Stead, who will assume chief selector duties alongside Gavin Larsen as outgoing coach Mike Hesson did, certainly has some thinking to do.

It may not be a debate for the three tests against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in November, when New Zealand will probably play just two frontline quicks, but Henry will apply heat to senior man Tim Southee in the home summer starting against Sri Lanka in Wellington on December 15.

"Matt's in great form at the moment. What we need to work out is where he fits across all three forms," Stead said.

"From my point of view I'm trying to work out what our 15 will look like at the World Cup so that might mean we give other players opportunities to find out if they're the right players to fit into our 15.

"He [Henry] goes best when he's been bowling a lot, and he's getting the rewards now."

Certainly Henry relished bowling with the harder Dukes ball with its more pronounced seam and extra swing, as Southee and Trent Boult have enjoyed in test cricket in England.

New Zealand Cricket considered switching their ball provider from the traditional Kookaburra to the Dukes this year, before re-signing a three-year deal with the Australian manufacturer.

Whilst the Dukes could mean a bonanza on December pitches for Boult, Southee or Henry against Sri Lanka, Stead backed the decision to stick with Kookaburra.

"One thing English cricket needs to work out is whether using Dukes all the time is the right thing for them. Without being disrespectful to bowlers over there you see some guys who bowl not much quicker than 110kmh who seem to take lots of wickets.

"I'm not sure that's necessarily the best thing for cricket in the long run. Those bowlers are obviously skillful and get the best out of themselves, but I don't see those guys will play international cricket with the Kookaburra in hand."

One example was Henry's new ball partner at Kent, medium-pacer Darren Stevens, who at 42 was still going strong and has 42 first-class wickets at 18 this year.