Northeast hits 97 on day two
Sam Northeast hit 97 and Darren Stevens completed a career-best haul on a topsy-turvy day two against Leicestershire at The Spitfire Ground.
Former Kent all-rounder Neil Dexter returned to his former home ground to bag 5/76 and help restrict Kent to 313-9 in reply to the visitors’ 350.
Northeast batted almost four-and-a-half hours for his 97 and tailend resistance from Kent earned the hosts three batting bonus points.
Responding to Leicestershire’s dogged first innings of 350, Kent’s opening batsmen Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sean Dickson were both back in the hutch inside 13 overs.
Dickson, who looked solid in scoring 19, drove with firm-hands and leaden feet at a full away-swinger from Ben Raine only to edge to second slip.
Then, with his score on 17, Bell-Drummond pushed at a gentle Dexter away-swinger and nudged a second catch to Ned Eckersley in the cordon.
Northeast and Joe Denly appeared comfortable in adding 39 either side of lunch until Denly, 58 runs short of reaching his 1,000 for the season, tossed away his wicket by wafting off the back-foot against Raine to be caught behind.
Sam Billings marched in for only his fourth championship innings of the summer to get off the mark with an effortless straight-driven boundary off Raine.
But, having breezed to 16, Billings played across the line of a shooting off-cutter and appeared disappointed when umpire Martin Saggers upheld Dexter’s lbw appeal.
Dexter was soon celebrating again when he nipped one down the Canterbury slope to hit the back pad of Kent championship debutant, Zak Crawley, who went lbw for only a single on his championship debut.
Northeast and Darren Stevens combined to steady the Kentish ship with a sensible sixth-wicket stand worth 80 either side of tea.
Content to wait for the bad ball, Northeast went to a 97-ball 50 with six fours and Stevens was only four runs short of joining him when he played around his front pad to go lbw to a Matt Pillans in-ducker.
Left-hander Matt Coles sidled in to launch a one-man boundary spree, hitting seven of them in his 37 before an attempted lap against spinner Callum Parkinson looped up to the keeper seemingly via the gloves. Coles, however, marched off rubbing his forearm.
Home skipper Northeast was only three short of his third century of the summer when his 170-ball stay came to an end. Caught on the crease and playing across a Dexter off-cutter, he went lbw after 260 minutes at the crease.
Dexter picked up his fifth when Mitch Claydon, with his side 13 shy of a third batting bonus point, drove on the up straight into the hands of short-extra cover.
Much to the delight of home supporters, Kent’s last man Imran Qayyum came in to hit his first runs in first-class cricket, including a brace of boundaries, to help Adam Milne steer Kent beyond 300.
The second day started as Monday’s play had finished with Leicestershire’s last pairing of Parkinson and Hill making hay.
Resuming on their side’s overnight score of 326 for nine, the duo continued to use the long handle and added 24 for a fourth batting bonus point before their 122-run stand ended when Parkinson (75) edged a Stevens away-swinger to slip to give Stevens a career-best return of 8/75. Hill was left unbeaten on a season’s best 85.