Cook and McLaren dig in as Kent’s tail wags in Beckenham

Kent v Gloucestershire LV County Championship day three, Beckenham.
By Mark Pennell
KENT lost three wickets in the space of 15 overs on the third morning of their surprisingly low-scoring Division 2 clash in sun-baked Beckenham.
Resuming on Wednesday night“s total of 149 for six, Kent moved their total on to 224 for nine by the lunch interval courtesy of some much needed last-wicket resistance by Ryan McLaren (23*) and Simon Cook (22*).
The pair came together at 179 for nine following the loss of James Tredwell for six and proceeded to add 45 vital runs against a buoyant Gloucestershire attack including Steve Kirby with the new ball.
Kirby took the first wicket of the day in the sixth over of the morning when he pinned night watchman Amjad Khan on the back leg to send him packing leg before for five. It also gave Kirby his first five-wicket haul this summer.
Five overs later the first ball of the day from slow left-arm spinner Vikram Banerjee sat up to be hit, but sadly for Justin Kemp (41) he clattered it straight into the hands of Alex Gidman at cover.
Two runs later Tredwell (6) clipped a near half-volley from Jonathan Lewis straight to Gemaal Husain at mid-on bringing together Cook and McLaren for their backs-to-the-wall effort through to the break that improved Kent“s overall match lead to 289.