Lancashire v Kent: Riley’s resistance not enough
Wednesday 29th April 2015
Lancashire completed a tense win over Kent despite a 105-ball innings from Adam Riley on a hard-fought final day in the LV= County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.
Despite stubborn resistance from Rob Key’s side, the hosts finally dismissed the visitors for 295 at 4.30pm, leaving Steven Croft’s men needing to score 104 in a minimum of 21 overs.
In the event they completed the task with 14 balls to spare as Paul Horton's 67 not out off 62 balls and Alviro Petersen's unbeaten 22 guided Lancashire home.
In some respects the defeat was hard on Kent as all the batsmen dismissed in their second innings reached double figures and for long periods in the first two sessions of the final day it looked as though they would successfully frustrate Croft’s bowlers.
In the morning, Lancashire’s seamers took two prime wickets but were also delayed by rain for 20 minutes and Kent had progressed from their overnight 148 for three to 209 for five when the players came in for the first official break of the day.
That gave them a lead of just 17 runs with Sam Northeast, playing his second valuable innings of the match, on 40 not out and Sam Billings unbeaten on seven.
The first wicket had fallen to Kyle Jarvis, who had Brendan Nash caught by Ashwell Prince for 27 in the fifth over of the morning when the Kent batsman signally failed to cope with a superb short-pitched ball which he could only fend to third slip off the shoulder of the bat.
Peter Siddle then struck two overs after the resumption when he had Darren Stevens leg before on 16.
Kent added 63 runs in the afternoon session and were 272 for eight at tea with a lead of 80 with a minimum of 33 overs left in this absorbing contest.
Early in the session, however, it seemed that the game might be heading for an early finish when Billings was caught at the wicket off Kyle Jarvis for 11 and Northeast was bowled by Peter Siddle off the inside edge for 43.
Both wickets fell in the space of three deliveries after Lancashire had taken the new ball as soon as it became available immediately on the resumption.
Those wickets left the visitors on 216 for seven, a lead of only 24, but Matt Coles and Adam Riley added 49 before Coles was caught at backward short leg by Steven Croft off Simon Kerrigan for 28.
In the evening session Jarvis was probably fortunate to have Riley lbw for 17 but Mitch Claydon was smartly stumped for 24 by Alex Davies off Simon Kerrigan to end the innings. Jarvis finished with four for 67 to complete a match return of eight for 117 while Siddle took three for 36 and Kerrigan two for 50.
Lancashire’s progress to their target was relatively straightforward, although rain clouds threatened to interrupt the game in the latter stages before Luis Reece was caught at mid on for 16 and Horton and Petersen saw their team home with a flurry of attacking shots.
Next up for Kent is a four-day Bank Holiday weekend fixture against Leicestershire at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence in the LV= County Championship, starting at 11am on Sunday (May 3).