Kent make slow start to the County Championship season

April 30



batting form ... Sam Northeast



Kent’s poor start to the new LV= County Championship continued this week with defeat at home to Gloucestershire. The result leaves the Canterbury side languishing in 8^th place in the 9-team table with only one win from their first three games.

The new term had started brightly for Robert Key’s side, with narrow victory in their opening game away to Essex. The local rivals played a lot of cricket in the first two days, with Kent patting first and posting a first-innings total of 247 all out, thanks largely to Sam Northeast who scored an impressive 112 from 170 deliveries. The bowlers then ripped into the Essex line-up, leaving them 49 for 6 at the close of play.                                                                                                                                              



Day two saw something of an Essex fight-back, with JS Foster showing remarkable resilience to score an unbeaten 88 from 161 balls. The Chelmsford outfit posted 201 all out, leaving Kent needing a second decent tally to close out the game. They responded well, ending day two 146/3 and in control.                                                                                                                                                                                            Van Jaarsvelt hit 63 and captain Key 61, Kent finishing 238 all out and leaving Essex needing 284 to take the game. They made good progress on day three, reaching 198/6, including 39 from England international Ravi Bopara, but ultimately fell short of the mark at 227 all out.                                       Kent recorded a 57-run victory and took 20 points from the game. Darren Stevens impressed with ball, taking 9 wickets including 6-60 in the first innings.

Things started going wrong after this opening fixture, with a heavy innings-and-159 run defeat the Northamptonshire hitting hard on team morale. Kent posted 202 from their first innings but were left reeling after Northamptonshire’s massive reply of 480 runs.  The home side didn’t even bat a second innings thanks to a magnificent 141 unbeaten from captain Marcus Hall, scoring the 12^th ton of his first-class career. The follow-on saw something of a shambles from Kent’s top order with the first SEVEN batsmen combining for a meagre 41 runs and the team all out for 119 runs.

Things improved in the first home game against Gloucestershire, though not by much. The defeat was at least by a much narrower 45-run margin, with Kent’s 208 & 245 not enough to see off a solid Gloucestershire team 292 &206, despite a brilliant 70 runs from 162 by Azhar Mahmood in the second innings.

Kent’s next game is at home to Northamptonshire with the team needing a significant improvement against the team whose only win of the season has been against the Spitfires. The Canterbury boys also have the 40-over form of the game to look forward to, beginning at home to Worcestershire on May the 1^st.