Kent in contention after Canterbury conquest
Friday 7th September 2012
Kent ensured that the battle for promotion from LV= County Championship Division Two will be a last-round, three-team battle after they beat leaders Derbyshire today.
Their 222-run victory at Canterbury means that with one set of fixtures remaining, Derbyshire are still top with 173 points, with Yorkshire a point behind and Kent now six adrift.
Today’s 21-point success means Kent are very much alive ahead of the closing clash at Glamorgan. Had they not won, then Derbyshire and Yorkshire could tonight have been celebrating.
They will now head into their games against Hampshire and Essex fully aware the fight is not over, and in Derbyshire's case, they only have themselves to blame.
Skittled for 181 today, they fell some way short of an ambitious victory target of 403. A draw would have sufficed, however, and only Usman Khawaja (53) seemed to grasp that.
Starting the day on 30 for one, getting anywhere near the winning line was always going to be tricky for Derbyshire, especially against a home side who sense a chance of getting their noses back into the promotion hunt.
They would have been hopeful of hanging around until the close, though, with a shared result more than likely to have been enough for them.
But when opener Paul Borrington was pinned in front by Matt Coles for 17, it was clear things were not going to run smoothly.
Wes Durston lost his wicket in the same manner to the same bowler for eight to leave them on 69 for three and, although Khawaja progressed to his 50, his dismissal, lbw to Darren Stevens, signalled the beginning of the end.
Brendon Nash threw down the stumps with Ross Whiteley short of his ground and without a run to his name, while Dan Redfern feathered Stevens behind to Geraint Jones.
David Wainwright made his way to a painful 21 but lost his stumps to Mark Davies and things were wrapped up quickly after that, with Stevens (four wickets for 37 runs) accounting for Tony Palladino and Tim Groenewald, before Coles put the seal on things when he snared last man Mark Turner.
Derbyshire will now be hoping they can finish the job on home soil against opponents who may be pre-occupied by CB40 final thoughts.
A 24-point win could well put Hampshire in the mix too, but that appears highly unlikely.
This match was Kent's final home fixture of the season. We would like to thank you for your enthusiastic support of the team this season. We look forward to welcoming you back to the St Lawrence Ground for one of our winter events or during the 2013 season. Thank you.
Photo: Sarah Ansell SarahCanterbury.com