Match Report: Kent vs. Lancashire
Lancashire were the visitors to Canterbury for Kent’s latest LV= Insurance County Championship clash.
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Day Four Report:
Lancashire moved top of Group Three after beating Kent by an innings and five runs in their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Canterbury.
Matt Parkinson helped spin the visitors to 22 points, claiming seven for 126 as Kent were all out for 351 in their second innings, while Danny Lamb, who’d scored 125 on day two, claimed two for 57.
Daniel Bell-Drummond made 114, but the hosts lost three wickets in the morning session and collapsed from 305 for four after lunch, leaving them bottom of the table, having picked up just two bonus points.
With Canterbury under cloud for the first time this season and the ground buffeted by a north-easterly wind strong enough to blow over advertising hoardings, Kent began day four on 209 for one following on, still 147 in arrears.
Bell-Drummond added just six to his overnight score when he played on to Josh Bohannon and Parkinson then hit Kent with a gut punch, taking two wickets from successive balls. Zak Crawley was lbw for 36 to a full toss that landed on his toe and Jack Leaning was caught and bowled for a golden duck, lingering for several seconds before the umpires agreed the ball hadn’t bounced.
Joe Denly and Heino Kuhn steered Kent to 280 for four at lunch, but just as the hosts began to harbour plausible hopes of at least forcing Lancashire to bat again, both were removed by Lamb. Kuhn was lbw for 32 in the 53rd over and in the 55th Denly’s middle stump was sent flying as he was bowled for 31.
Darren Stevens went for a duck in the next over, caught by Rob Jones as he tried to drive Parkinson through extra cover and Matt Milnes was unable to recreate last week’s rearguard against Yorkshire, lasting 27 balls before he was lbw to Parkinson for 14, leaving Kent on 345 for eight at tea.
Fred Klaassen was on three when he steered a Lamb delivery into his stumps and although he was reprieved when the ball failed to dislodge the bails, Parkinson had him caught by Croft at silly point before he could add to his score. Lancashire sealed the win when Parkinson drew an inside edge from Miguel Cummins and he was caught by Keaton Jennings at short leg.
Kent’s Heino Kuhn said: “We’re very disappointed, each and every one of us. It was one of those games and Lancashire are one of the sides, you really want to beat, but they played well, they played a lot better than us, so all the credit must go to them. They just outplayed us in 90 percent of the game.
(On his partnership with Denly). “We were feeling good, there weren’t really any demons in the pitch, I wouldn’t say it was easy but I thought we managed it well and (that’s why) we love to hate this game! It’s just one ball that changes the whole thing. You lose one and then you lose two or three and unfortunately that’s what happened to us.
(On the second innings dismissals): “You get those in a game. I don’t think we batted well enough in the first innings so it’s no use complaining about a couple of the dismissals. We didn’t score enough runs in the first innings and we didn’t field well enough on Day Two.”
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Day Three Report:
A century from captain Daniel Bell-Drummond has given Kent a fighting chance of a draw against Lancashire, steering them to 209 for one in their second innings in their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Canterbury.
The hosts still trail by 147 at the end of day three, but a heavy defeat had looked likely after they slumped to 169 all out in their first innings. Tom Bailey took four for 46 and Luke Wood three for 38 to give Lancashire a lead of 356, but after enforcing the follow on the visitors were frustrated for the final two sessions.
Bell-Drummond hit 108 not out and Jordan Cox made 80 in a stand of 176 for the opening wicket that helped take the Group Three fixture to a fourth day.
Kent were 85/4 overnight and their worst case scenario occurred when Bailey had Zak Crawley caught behind for 60 off the first ball of the day.
They resisted well for the next hour, until the introduction of Matt Parkinson, who had Heino Kuhn caught by Rob Jones at square leg for 21 in his first over, after a miscued sweep.
Darren Stevens was out for just one, having already been given a comical reprieve when he top-edged Parkinson to square leg. The ball was in the air for so long Stevens started walking, but he was dropped by Jones, making the fielder the most relieved man in the ground when he was lbw to Parkinson’s next ball.
Bailey then removed Ollie Robinson and Fred Klaassen with successive balls, bowling the former for 21 and getting the latter caught by Keaton Jennings at first slip for a golden duck. The final ball of the session saw Miguel Cummins caught by Dane Vilas for 19, attempting to drive Josh Bohannon through extra cover, leaving Matt Milnes not out on 17.
However, the contrast between morning and afternoon could hardly have been starker, as Bell-Drummond and Cox batted through to tea, scoring freely to reach 141/0despite constant and increasingly frantic appealing.
The partnership lasted for over three hours and was five runs away from setting a new record Kent first-wicket batting partnership against Lancashire, until Parkinson had Cox caught by a diving Jones at cover but it was a fleeting success for Lancashire as Kent continued to resist. Bell-Drummond reached three figures with a single off a full toss from Parkinson and he was joined by Crawley, who was 13 not out at stumps.
Kent’s Vice-Captain, Daniel Bell-Drummond, said: “Obviously we were in a very tough situation in the game so I just wanted to lead from the front and get the guys off to a good start with Jordan and take it step-by-step.
“I was just very focused on what we’ve got to do and we’ve still got a long way to go but I’m just happy for myself and the team that I could make it through to the close unbeaten. Obviously they’re on top in the game but I think we did well in the afternoon and the evening.
“The four wickets last night hurt us to be honest and we couldn’t get going this morning. We all hold our hands up, we weren’t good enough, especially me in the first innings.
“I don’t think the pitch has changed that much, a few balls misbehaved a tiny bit but it’s still for the most part a very flat wicket. There was a bit of spin for Parkinson, he’s a good bowler but I’m backing the boys tomorrow that we can get a draw.”
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Day Two Report:
A record-breaking eighth-wicket stand by centurions Danny Lamb and Luke Wood put Lancashire in a dominant position at stumps, on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Kent at Canterbury.
Both batsmen hit career-best innings before the visitors were finally dismissed for 525. Lamb made a flamboyant 125 and Wood produced a composed and almost chanceless 119 as they put on 187 for the eighth wicket, both a Lancashire record and a record for the St Lawrence ground.
Wood then took three for 23 as Kent slumped to 85/4 in reply and trail by 440 in their Group Three fixture, despite an aggressive 60 not out from England’s Zak Crawley.
A day from purgatory for the hosts began when the first ball, from Matt Milnes, thumped into Lamb’s pads. A loud shout for lbw was turned down and it all was downhill from there for Kent as Wood and Lamb were largely unmolested, adding 90 runs without loss before Lunch.
Lancashire’s good form continued through the afternoon session, Wood cutting Joe Denly for four to bring up his second red-ball century and Lamb reverse-sweeping the same bowler for boundaries twice in an over.
When Milnes did draw an edge from Wood he was dropped by Crawley at slip, but he finally had him caught behind in his next over, the 147th. Lamb then brought up his century with a six over long on but he was eventually bowled by Fred Klaassen.
Tom Bailey added a quickfire 47 before he was caught by Crawley off Jack Leaning, leaving Matt Parkinson unbeaten on one.
Kent’s reply started in tricky fashion when Bailey had Jordan Cox caught behind for nought off the fifth legitimate ball of the innings and Wood then removed Daniel Bell-Drummond, who was caught for three by a diving Luke Wells at third slip.
Four overs later Wells caught Denly for four off Wood, leaving Kent reeling on 23/3 and despite a partial recovery with a stand of 53 by Crawley and Leaning, Wood had the latter caught for 12 at square leg by the sub, Jack Blatherwick. Heino Kuhn joined Crawley and survived a dicey 35 balls to reach one not out at the close of play.
Kent’s Head Coach, Matt Walker, said: “[Today] was an opportunity missed.
“At 260 for seven overnight I thought that was a really good effort and put us in a really good position going into to today (but) the game sort of slowly slipped away from our control. Full credit to Lamb and Wood, I thought they played very well, they sucked up the pressure and made it count, they made use of a very good wicket in the end.
“We just didn’t have any answers today. We didn’t bowl poorly, but we didn’t look like being able to take a wicket for most parts of today. There was a lot of huff and puff and the effort was there, we didn’t bowl poorly, we just didn’t muster enough balls in the right area.”
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Day One Report:
Lancashire were 260/7 at stumps in their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Kent, after a seesawing first day at Canterbury.
Josh Bohannon hit 87 and Dane Vilas 53, as the visitors recovered from 85 for four and 190/6 in their Group Three fixture.
Darren Stevens took two for 35 and Miguel Cummins two for 61, but having won the toss and opted to bowl, the hosts were left to rue missed chances to go for the jugular when they had Lancashire wobbling early in both the afternoon and evening sessions.
England’s James Anderson had been expected to play for the visitors, but was rested due to a calf issue, while Kent made two changes to the side that subsided by 200 runs to Yorkshire, Fred Klaassen and Heino Kuhn coming in for the injured Harry Podmore and Grant Stewart.
Kent smothered Lancashire in a morning session that saw just seven boundaries, but produced only two wickets. Although Matt Milnes had Alex Davies caught behind for one in the fifth over, the only other success came when Stevens removed Keaton Jennings, who was brilliantly caught by Jack Leaning at third slip for 16.
Debutant Luke Wells and Bohannon steered Lancashire to 61/2 at lunch, but Wells fell in the 38th over for a dogged 45, caught behind off Cummins.
Stevens then had Steven Croft LBW for two, but the session drifted away from Kent after Bohannon was dropped by the sub fielder Nathan Gilchrist, who top-edged Cummins when he was on 21. Gilchrist sprinted in from the fine leg boundary but couldn’t hang on to a difficult chance and Bohannon and Vilas cashed in, reaching 179/4 at Tea.
Fred Klaassen finally broke the partnership when he produced a yorker that had Vilas lbw in the 67th over, ending a stand of 102. Leaning then removed Rob Jones for two, luring him out of his ground and allowing Ollie Robinson to claim the first stumping of his red ball career, but Lancashire put on a useful stand of 58 for the seventh wicket before Cummins had Bohannon LBW.
Luke Wood and Danny Lamb were the not out batsmen at the close, on 28 and 12 respectively.
Kent’s Fred Klaassen said: “It was 50-50 I suppose, it would have been nice to bowl them out, but especially in that first session we bowled pretty well to (only) get a couple of wickets.
“We felt we were in it the whole game. Seven’s a decent effort but hopefully we can finish them off early tomorrow morning. We bowled pretty tight the whole day, led by ‘Stevo’ and ‘Milnesy’ who bowled a lot of maidens.
“I feel we’re in a very good position, especially if we can come back tomorrow and take those three quick wickets and get out there and bat. Compared to the last game I think there’s a bit of carry and a bit of nip there, so you saw a few short balls used throughout the day, but the batters stuck in there and saw off the new ball, so I think it was pretty even.”
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