Ball and Weatherley give Kent slender lead
Adam Ball and Joe Weatherley half-centuries helped Kent second XI earn a slender first-innings lead before Grant Stewart and academy scholar Ollie Hills struck twice each to set up an intriguing final day at Polo Farm, writes Liam Buttery.
Essex lead by 90 with six second innings wickets in hand after Kent weren’t able to extend their first innings lead due to a middle order collapse, thanks to the bowling of Cook and Beard, who consistently hit good areas.
Weatherley (56) and Ball (58) added exactly 100 for the fourth wicket before the hosts lost three wickets in two overs for the addition of a run.
Kent began the day slowly, though settled into a rhythm after spending some time at the crease before Crawley was trapped LBW to Cook for 42, bringing captain Adam Ball to the crease.
Ball (58) followed on from Crawley’s lead by hitting left-arm spinner Nijjar for six over mid-on, and the all-rounder played a counter-attacking innings on the second morning, scoring mainly off the front foot through the covers to Essex’s seam-dominant bowling attack.
Following the lunch interval, Ball passed 50 and Weatherley (56) followed suit soon after, as the pair wore down the Essex bowlers.
Whilst Ball was the more aggressive of the two, together they kept the score ticking over and put on a partnership of exactly one hundred, until Weatherley fell to the slowing wicket and gloved one through to the keeper, Russell.
Weatherley’s dismissal was the start of a difficult period for Kent, during which three quick wickets fell with the addition of just one run to the score; the fourth wicket fell with the score on 206, and on 207 the seventh wicket fell with academy scholar Jordan Cox, unlucky to be bowled by the ball rolling back on to his stumps after facing just three deliveries.
Kent’s two Calums – Basey and Haggett somewhat repaired the damage inflicted by Beard (4-58) by putting on twenty two for the seventh wicket, until Basey was adjudged LBW to Bocking (2-25), and when Grant Stewart was dismissed soon after, the chances of Kent building a strong first innings lead began to diminish.
Haggett added 33 to the total before he was bowled by Cook, and as Riley could only manage 14 before running out of partners, Kent’s first innings lead of 19 was significantly smaller than they would have hoped given their solid position at lunch, as they were bowled out for 276 on the stroke of tea.
The final wicket fell as academy scholar Ollie Hills was given out caught behind, resulting in the Essex ‘keeper, Russell, claiming his fourth catch of the innings.
In reply, Browne and Vilani worked hard for Essex and overturned their first innings deficit without the fall of a wicket. Stewart and Ball were forced to bowl patiently with the new ball as the Essex openers played well to accumulate 66 for the first wicket.
With the evening session proving to be an attritional battle, Ollie Hills bowled a superb over to clean bowl Browne for 25, and then Taylor just three balls later, caught by Cox, taking the visitors from a comfortable 66-0 to a slightly more precarious 66-2.
As the day drew to a close, Kent found one final burst to claim two further wickets, including the important wicket of Vilani (59). The Essex batsman secured back-to-back half centuries in the game, however he was bowled by Grant Stewart (2-19) soon after Beard was dismissed too, also bowled by Stewart, giving the Sandwich Town all-rounder his sixth wicket of the match.
Ali and Nijjar negotiated the final passage of the day’s play, as Essex finished the day on 109-4. With the visitors leading by 90, Kent will be looking to take the six remaining wickets to set up a run chase on Wednesday afternoon.