Rain hits Old Trafford Clash
Thursday 25th April 2013
Just 71 runs were scored in 38 overs as batting proved tough for both Kent and Lancashire on a rain-hit second day of their LV= County Championship Division Two match at Emirates Old Trafford.
Kent added 28 to their overnight score before they were dismissed for 244 in their first innings.
And Lancashire found life equally tough in their reply as they finished on 43 for two having faced 34 testing overs with Mark Davies, Matt Coles, Darren Stevens and Charlie Shreck all causing problems.
It took just 25 balls for Lancashire to wrap up the Kent innings this morning.
Resuming on 216 for eight, and with the floodlights on because of poor light, Kent lost Davies to the fourth ball of the day as his off-stump was uprooted by James Anderson without him adding to his overnight score of 11.
In a rare show of aggression on the day, Shreck launched a delivery from Simon Kerrigan straight back over the spinner's head for six, while Anderson twice gave away four byes with short balls which both sailed above wicketkeeper Gareth Cross.
But the England bowler put paid to James Tredwell on 40 with a beauty which knocked over his middle stump as Lancashire claimed maximum bowling points while Kent had to make do with just one batting point.
It meant 30-year-old Anderson, who took 19 overs to register his first wicket on day one, had claimed the final four Kent wickets in seven overs and finished with figures of four for 57.
Openers Paul Horton and Luke Procter found runs hard to come by, with the first boundary of Lancashire's first innings not coming until the 12th over as Horton nipped a Stevens delivery off his toes through square.
And after a short rain break, Tredwell pulled off an impressive catch at second slip to send Procter back to the pavilion after he edged Stevens while on nine.
Horton and Karl Brown saw Lancashire safely to lunch at 22 for one, before rain wiped out the whole of the afternoon session.
When play resumed with the loss of 55 overs, Lancashire found it difficult to accelerate as Stevens, Coles, Shreck and Davies – whose eight overs went for just seven runs – caused Brown and Horton problems with tight bowling and movement.
And, with six over left, all Horton's hard work at seeing off the new ball went to waste as he shouldered arms at a Coles delivery and it hit the top of his off-stump. The opener's 15 came off 92 balls.
It brought Anderson, who has lost the job as England nightwatchman to Steve Finn, to the crease. He slashed Coles for four before he and Brown saw Lancashire to the close.