Dickson & Denly centuries as Kent build big lead
Sean Dickson and Joe Denly hit their Specsavers County Championship centuries of the season in a Kent record third-wicket stand against Warwickshire at Tunbridge Wells.
Contrasting with 20 wickets falling on day one, the duo saw off the new ball to add 208 runs as Kent’s batsmen posted 357-6, a lead of 429
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Dickson top-scored with a season-best 133 including sixteen fours and a six as he accelerated as the ball softened and the visiting attack tired.
At the other end, Denly (119) played a patient hand before both men were dismissed LBW by Bears captain Jeetan Patel shortly after tea.
Keith Barker struck twice with both new balls, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Darren Stevens nicking behind before Heino Kuhn and Adam Rouse following LBW respectively.
Barker (4/64) was again the pick of the league leaders’ attack before he was withdrawn for running on the protected area of the pitch after an earlier warning from umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy.
Day 3 resumes at 11am with gates open at The Nevill Ground from 10am with plenty of parking at the ground.
20-year-old Academy graduate Zak Crawley (47*) and Harry Podmore (13*) showed poise against the experienced Patel bowling into the footholes before seeing off a tricky 13-over new-ball spell before stumps.
Kent century-maker Sean Dickson said: “These were two polar opposite opening days; when 20 wickets fall yesterday and only six today and we’re not quite sure why that is.
“I had some good balls at the start there, but it was my day today, whereas yesterday I lasted four deliveries. Joe and I like to break batting records, we enjoy batting with each other. A few glove punches and a little chat, we keep it simple, there’s no pressure and he’s great to bat with.
“It was much easier for batting today and tougher to take wickets, but the one trend we can see is that this is a new ball pitch. They took the second new ball late on today and went bang, bang, picking up two quick wickets.
“It will be hard for us to take another 10 wickets to win this once we make them bat again, but as long as there’s plenty still in the pitch for the new ball then we’ll back ourselves to do it. We need to get three or four early wickets when we do put them in and give ourselves plenty of time to chip away at the rest.”