[1] With Billings and vice-captain Joe Denly playing in the Indian Premier League, which ran until 5 May, Heino Kuhn was announced as interim captain for the early part of the season.

[13] In September 2018, Kent announced the signing of 24 year-old seam bowler Matt Milnes from Nottinghamshire on a three-year deal beginning at the start of the 2019 season.

On 1 October 2018, Kent announced another signing for the 2019 season with Dutch international left-arm fast bowler Fred Klaassen joining on a two-year contract.

[17] In February, Kent announced the signing of English-born Australian international batsman Matt Renshaw as their overseas player for the early part of the season, making him available for the opening three County Championship matches and the entire Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.

[18] New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne re-signed to play for the county in the T20 Blast later the same month and Afghanistan's veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi was also signed for the first 11 matches of the competition.

[22] On 5 June, Kent announced that South African fast bowler Hardus Viljoen was to rejoin the club for a second spell to play in the T20 Blast.

[26][27] On 25 August, Kent announced the signing of South Africa captain Faf du Plessis for their remaining two group matches of the T20 Blast, replacing the departed Mohammad Nabi.

[28] It was later announced that du Plessis would also play in the County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley, providing him with some first-class preparation prior to captaining South Africa in their Test series against India.

Fred Klaassen and Matt Milnes made their Kent debuts in the match which was drawn after much of the final day was lost to rain.

Four losses and an abandoned match at Cardiff to start the competition effectively knocked the county out of the knock-out stages before two wins against Surrey and Essex led to a seventh-place finish in the group.