Kent seal Surrey win on Day Four
Kent claimed a five-wicket victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval and secured their third win of the season in the Specsavers County Championship.
Chasing 121 to win on a pitch still offering some assistance to the bowlers, Kent lost Zak Crawley and Joe Denly in the first over of their chase to Morne Morkel.
When Sean Dickson and Daniel Bell-Drummond fell either side of lunch, they still needed 71 to win but Ollie Robinson settled any nerves with an unbeaten 51 off just 44 balls including four boundaries and a six swatted over long on off Dean Elgar to win the match.
Victory keeps Kent fifth in the first division table, 59 points ahead of bottom of the table Nottinghamshire. Surrey are sixth, three points below them. Both have played nine games.
Surrey had sensed an unlikely victory when Morkel produced a superb first over with his two wickets.
Crawley, half-forward, was caught-behind off the second ball and Denly was nearly dismissed off the fourth when the South African nipped one back sharply and it only just missed the stumps. But Denly’s reprieve was short-lived. He was turned around by the next delivery and lost his off stump.
It left Kent 0 for 2, but Dickson and Bell-Drummond negotiated the rest of Morkel’s four-over new ball spell and had taken the score to 40 when Dickson played across the line to the last delivery before lunch to fall leg-before to Rikki Clarke for 18.
After lunch, Foakes took a superb one-handed catch diving to his left when Bell-Drummond (26) got an inside edge to Sam Curran which left Kent 50 for 4.
Ollie Robinson and Heino Kuhn steadied the Kentish ship and added 37 runs for the fifth wicket to tilt the balance the visitors’ way.
Gareth Batty had Kuhn caught at slip for 22, but Kent’s target was just 24 runs by then and Robinson led them home with some confident stroke-play.
Earlier, Surrey lost their last four wickets in the first hour as their second innings ended on 218.
Darren Stevens completed the 22nd five-for of his career when Clarke was caught behind for 31 to become the 43-year-old’s 486th first-class victim.
Matt Milnes had made the first breakthrough when Curran (29) pushed at an excellent delivery that straightened on him and was caught behind by Robinson.
Milnes also had Batty (2) LBW before Harry Podmore wrapped up the innings when Jordan Clark (15) was bowled playing a defensive shot.
Kent’s Ollie Robinson said: “That’s one of our biggest wins in the last few years I’d say, against a very good side.
“We beat Notts a couple of weeks ago and have backed it up here by winning on Surrey’s turf. It’s pretty special.
“We knew we only needed a couple of decent partnerships to chase the target, although I can’t deny there weren’t a few nerves when we lost two wickets in the first over. The team is in a really good space at the moment.
“We are only five points off third place and we’re definitely looking to push on at the right end of the table.
England Lions will face a touring Australian Test warm-up side at The Spitfire Ground, St. Lawrence from this Sunday, as the visitors gear up for the 2019 Specsavers Ashes Series against England.
Kent’s Zak Crawley has been selected as part of the Lions squad for this fixture at his home ground.
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