Kent slip to their third defeat of the championship season with two sessions to spare

Kent v Durham LV= County Championship Division 1
By Mark Pennell
Kent crashed to their third championship defeat of the summer at St Lawrence where reigning champions Durham catered to a six wicket win with more than two sessions in hand.
After resuming on their overnight score of 67 for three and needing a further 102 for victory, the visitors eased home on 172 for four courtesy of an unbeaten 53 from Ian Blackwell and a quick-fire unbeaten 42 from Ben Stokes, who hit 26 – all in boundaries – from Joe Denly“s sole over of leg-spin to see his side over the win line for their second success of the championship campaign.
Kent“s only success of the final day came after 11 overs when Dale Benkenstein, one short of a half-century, went down the pitch aiming to loft a Rob Ferley delivery over extra cover only to edge an overhead catch to Martin van Jaarsveld at slip.
Though Ian Blackwell twisted his ankle when running a quick single to move through to 46, Scott Borthwick acted as his runner to see the burly all-rounder through to a 60-ball 50 with five fours and a six.
But it Was Stokes, fresh from an unbeaten career-best 161 in the first innings, who again caught the eye by hitting five fours and a six in an over to clinch the win by 12.17pm
A disappointed Rob Key said afterwards: “It was hard work out there early on and although I thought we got a decent first innings score Harmy“s spell at the top of the game was crucial as he took out four of our batters.
“Cricket“s a simple game, if you bat well, bowl well and catch your catches you do alright, but at the moment we“re lacking in that little bit of skill.
“It was a pretty poor batting performance by us second time around, the third innings was always going to be crucial. We also had a good chance to roll them out for a few less than what we did at 200-odd for four, and though Ben Stokes played a fantastic innings, we really missed James Tredwell who got 60-odd wickets for us last year.”