Glamorgan v Kent: Denly and Key set hosts massive target
Friday 11th September 2015
Joe Denly smashed 161 not out in Kent’s season-best 222-run stand with Rob Key as they set Glamorgan a target of 554 to win.
The 29-year-old batsman passed 9,000 first-class career runs and 1,000 in red-ball cricket this summer with 21 fours and two sixes in a dominant display.
Matt Coles struck twice early on before James Kettleborough and Colin Ingram steadied the hosts with an unbroken partnership of 78 for the third wicket, reaching 101 for 2 before bad light stopped play.
Earlier Jeremy Lawlor recorded a pair on his championship debut when he was bowled by Matt Coles who then dismissed David Lloyd three overs later, the Kent seamer taking his season’s haul to 98 wickets, 65 in the Championship.
Kent had resumed on their overnight score of 256 for 1, with Robert Key and Joe Denly scoring quickly against a tiring attack.
Key, followed his century in the previous game against Lancashire with 94 in the first innings with a five-hour vigil before he was caught on the square leg boundary.
It was the 54thfirst-class century of his career and since returning to open the innings, he has scored 590 runs at an average of 73.75.
The 222-run stand between Key and Denly was a new record for the second wicket for Kent against Glamorgan, surpassing the previous record of 184 between Trevor Ward and Neil Taylor at Maidstone in 1991.
Denly remained undefeated on 167, his third century of the summer, and shared 114, the third century stand of the innings, with Sam Northeast who made an unbeaten 50 before calling an end to the onslaught.