Kent draw match with Leicestershire

Kent’s LV= Championship match with Leicestershire, ended in a draw after the rain interrupted fixture simply ran out of time.

Resuming at the overnight score of 227 for 5 Leicestershire batsmen Tom New (51) and Shiv Thakor (24) looked to push home the advantage, but were only able to add 25 runs before Azhar Mahmood had Thakor caught by James Tredwelll. For a short time New was ably assisted by new batsmen Jigar Naik, but Mahmood again ended the partnership, trapping New LBW for 76 with the score now 275 for 7. Mahmood completed a very satisfactory morning dismissing Niak for 22, caught by wicket keeper Geraint Jones and then gettiing Claude Henderson caught and bowled for 5, leading to a declaration at 289 for 9.

Leicestershire’s 18 overs and one ball, resulted in the addition of 62 runs for the loss of four wickets and returned for Mahmood the excellent second innings figures of 4 for 42. He was ably assisted by England Under 19 representative Adam Ball with 3 for 36.

Set an unlikely target of 328 for victory in just over two sessions, a Kent win always seemed unlikely. Captain Rob Key made a cautious start but partner Joe Denly, scored more quickly, before being bowled by Alex Wyatt for 24, with the score at 32. Both the second and third wicket partnerships, 81 and 71 respectively, allowed Kent supporters to flirt with the thought of an unlikely victory. The first was ended when Sam Northeast was trapped in front by Naik for 32 with the score at 113 and the second with Martin van Jaarsveld unable to repeat his 124 runs heroics from Sunday’s CB40 match against Worcestershire, bowled by Henderson for 24, making the score 184 for 3. By this stage Captain Key was well into his 90’s and threatening to repeat his high scoring cameo from the County’s narrow loss to Surrey in July. Sadly his excellent innings ended with him bowled by Wayne White for 98 and the Kent score 186 for 4. The rapid arrival and departure of Jones, without adding to the score lead to a slight change in style, with Darren Stevens blocking up one end, facing 42 balls and scoring 12 before being caught by Matthew Boyce off Naik’s bowling. An entertaining batting performance by the morning’s bowling hero Azhar Mahmood, 46 off 68 balls, including nine fours, created some interest for the crowd but as expected there simply was not enough time to chase down such a big total. The game ended in a respectable draw with Mahmood not out 46 alongside James Tredwell (9 no) and Kent 255 for 6, 73 runs short.

Leicestershire 257 & 289/9

Kent 219 & 255/6