12 wickets for Henry as Kent defeat Durham
New Zealand international paceman Matt Henry grabbed career-best figures of 7/45 as Kent sealed a nine-wicket win in the Specsavers County Championship at Emirates Riverside.
The 26-year-old claimed career-best match figures of 12/73 as he caused havoc with the new ball alongside Darren Stevens (2/55), reducing the hosts to 39 for seven in exactly 100 balls.
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Henry struck with the fourth ball of the day as Will Smith nicked to Sean Dickson at slip before re-arranging the stumps of debutant Gareth Harte in his next over.
Stevens kept the pressure on at the other end and struck twice in his second over of the morning with Graham Clark trapped LBW and Paul Collingwood edging to Heino Kuhn at slip – neither batsmen added to the score.
Durham’s middle order tried to counter-attack but lost another man with Richardson feathering behind to Rouse as Henry claimed a fourth victim.
The New Zealander reached his 10-wicket match when he trapped Stuart Poynter LBW for 3, surpassing his previous best haul of 9/137 for Canterbury in the Plunkett Shield in New Zealand in February 2017.
Resistance was provided by nightwatchman Matthew Potts (36) before the former England Under-19 all-rounder was out LBW to Harry Podmore after a stand of 36 with James Weighell.
Weighell (84) smashed six fours and three sixes and Nathan Rimmington (25) edged the hosts ahead with some aggressive strokeplay in the hosts’ highest stand of the match to force Kent to bat again for victory.
After the early loss of Sean Dickson, Daniel Bell-Drummond (45*) saw Kent home alongside Heino Kuhn (36*) to seal the first win of the season with two and a half days to spare.
Next up, Kent face Pakistan in a first-class tour match starting next Saturday (28 April) at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.