Kent v Lancashire: The Match History

It is three years since we last welcomed Lancashire to Canterbury for the County Championship, when the visitors were victorious by 121 runs. The following year they were crowned County Champions whilst Kent found themselves in the lower division, a fate that befell Lancashire the year after their Championship success.

The first Kent v Lancashire match took place at Gravesend in 1871, since when a total of 221 matches have been played between the two counties. Kent have won 55 of these games, Lancashire 89 with 77 drawn and 4 abandoned. Of home matches most have been played at Canterbury (29) with The Mote a close second on 26. Twelve different grounds in the County have hosted these games including single matches at Beckenham, (Foxgrove Road) Catford and Town Malling.

Kent’s highest innings total was recorded at Tunbridge Wells in 2004 with a score of 615 which included centuries by Robert Key and Ed Smith, during which they established a record second wicket partnership of 229 in this series of matches. Lancashire’s highest was as long ago as 1906 at Manchester, (Kent’s first Championship-winning year) when they scored 531.

Until 2004 all of the highest partnerships for each wicket for Kent were achieved either in the period between the wars, or before the first world war, the only exception being for the tenth wicket when Dean Headley and Darren Scott put on 61 at Old Trafford in 1999. Then in 2007 Matthew Walker was involved in two record partnerships, for the third wicket (288) with Robert Key in the first innings and then for the eighth wicket (88) in the second innings, with Simon Cook. In that match Matthew Walker scored a century in each innings. The previous year Matthew had played a memorable innings of 197. Approaching his double hundred and attempting a third run, he collapsed with exhaustion in mid-pitch and was run out. This was a particularly exciting game in which more than 1300 runs were scored with Kent coming out winners by two wickets.

As with many of our opponents, the record of Frank Woolley against Lancashire stands out. He holds the record for most runs scored (2886) and most hundreds (6) although the highest individual score was recorded by Percy Chapman whose 260 at Maidstone in 1927 was a personal best. This innings formed a part of a record sixth wicket partnership of 284 with Geoffrey Legge, who scored 101.

Kent batsmen have scored a total of 73 hundreds in these matches, with Lancashire batsmen recording 80, the most being by G.E. Tyldesley who scored 7 during a career which lasted from 1909-1936.

“Tich” Freeman dominates the bowling performances, taking a total of 168 wickets with a best innings performance of 10-79 at Old Trafford in 1931. This was the second time he had achieved “all ten” against Lancashire, the other occasion being at Maidstone in 1929. Following his Old Trafford triumph he was presented with the ball which is in the Club’s collection of memorabilia.

The best match analysis for Kent was recorded as far back as 1893 when Walter Hearne took 15-114 at Old Trafford. Two years later saw the best match analysis for Lancashire with A.W. Mold taking 16-111.

Most of the outstanding performances between ourselves and Lancashire occurred either before the first world war or between the two wars.

David Robertson