Kent story

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Youngster Kemp Impresses on Debut



18-year-old seamer Ben Kemp took 4-59 as Kent took a lead of 40 runs against Oxford UCCE, although they lost 4 wickets themselves before close of play.

Oxford frustrated the Kent attack at first, putting on 50 partnerships for both the 1st and 2nd wickets, as Michael Ahern and Jeff Wilde scored half centuries. Matt Coles and Simon Cook finally found some rhythm though, and took 2 wickets each.

Kemp came to the fore in the second session, removing Wilde and 3 of his colleagues in one long spell. Although he bowled his fair share of bad balls, it was the consistency with which Kemp stuck to his task that will have impressed the Kent management.

They will not be so impressed with how Kent batted. Sam Northeast looks more and more out of form each time he bats this season and he and Mike Powell may find themselves out of the team for a significant amount of time after this match.

[mbk007]

I am seriously disappointed with Matt Coles abilities in the game.

[djmaddison8]

Match Drawn After Stevens Hundred



Darren Stevens hit a century and declared but Oxford UCCE never looked in trouble as they held on for a draw.

Kent's batting was more or less a one man show, although Alex Blake and Sam Billings stuck around to enhance their claims for a spot in the limited overs sides. The pitch seemed to be easier to bat on than the first two days and Stevens set a generous target of 258 to win.

Oxford never looked like going for it though as they batted out 4 maidens in the first 9 overs. Adam Riley got the breakthrough after tea and there was a wicket apiece for Matt Coles and Simon Cook, but Kent are still yet to win a match this season.

[djmaddison8]

I am seriously disappointed with Matt Coles abilities in the game.

Yep, right there with you. I know it must be hard to get everyone spot on, but Coles played for the England Lions this year. Surely that's a sign that he's at least got some promise!

[djmaddison8]

Yorkshire vs Kent



Yorkshire and Kent get their respective limited overs seasons underway at Headingley today. This is the 5th competitive game of the season for each side and 3 of them have been against each other. Yorkshire won both those encounters but Kent will hope their array of all-rounders will help them in this format, whilst Yorkshire go in with 5 bowlers. One of these is the Australian Mitchell Starc who is making his first appearance for the Tykes. This means Jonny Bairstow is required to take the keepers gloves ahead of Morne van Wyk and will drop down a place in the batting order.

For Kent, promising seam bowler Ben Kemp makes his List A debut following Matt Coles' poor form with the ball. Andrew Gale won the toss and chose to bat on a sunny day.

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Starc Holds Nerve in Dramatic Finish



Mitchell Starc took two wickets in the final over to secure victory on his Yorkshire debut, with Kent needing 19 to win.

Earlier Yorkshire's openers had put them in a promising position with a partnership of 98, before Kent took wickets to restrict them to 201-9. Andrew Gale in particular was aggressive as they saw off all of Kent's main seam bowlers, before James Tredwell trapped Phil Jaques LBW. Gary Ballance followed in Tredwell's next over, before Rob Key opted to bring on the part time seam of Ben Harmison. It looked to be an awful decision as Jonny Bairstow pummelled his 3rd ball over the offside boundary for 6, but two balls later Harmison removed Gale and he continued to take wickets including eventually that of Bairstow for 31 off 23 balls. Yorkshire were in trouble at this stage at 158-7 but Adil Rashid and Starc combined to give the hosts a competitive total.

Kent started their reply slowly, but Daniel Bell-Drummond took advantage of some wayward bowling from Steven Patterson to hit a succession of boundaries. Even so, one felt that one of the opener's needed to stay in and accelerate if Kent were to reach their target. It wasn't to be as Patterson got his revenge on Bell-Drummond and Ryan Sidebottom saw off Key. It was the story of the innings, each batsman got himself in slowly but then got out. Yorkshire's attack, 4 of whom have international experience, really turned the screw and Starc bowled a fantastic maiden to Geraint Jones in the 34th over. When Patterson removed Darren Stevens in the 37th, it looked over for Kent. Jones and Tredwell kept them alive with 24 runs off the next two overs and with 19 runs needed off Starc's final over, Tredwell managed 6 off the first two balls. He tried a maximum off a short ball next up, which would have meant 7 needed off 3, but he top-edged it and Sidebottom hung on to a catch that hung in the air for an age. Two balls later Starc bowled Simon Cook and it was all over.

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Essex vs Kent



Essex host Kent in the County Championship in this bottom half of the table clash. Essex bring back Charl Willoughby on a pitch that looks more receptive to seam than spin whilst Kent make 2 changes from their last Championship match, Ben Harmison in for Mike Powell and Ben Kemp in for Matt Coles.

Rob Key won the toss and chose to bat, meaning that Essex's international top 3 of Alastair Cook, Alviro Peterson and Ravi Bopara would have to wait for their chance to shine.

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Seamers Put Essex on Top in Cloudy Conditions



Kent's top order failed to compete on an overcast day and Essex wiped out half of the deficit in the final session.

After losing the toss and hearing that Rob Key was to bat, James Foster confidently said he would have bowled anyway. Clearly he knows the secrets of the Essex weather. No sooner had Key and Daniel Bell-Drummond taken strike than the clouds came over and the ball began to swing all over the place. Only Bell-Drummond scored runs as the Kent top order was decimated. Ben Harmison stuck around for 55 balls but scored only 8 before being trapped by Reece Topley, who ended the session with 3-18. Kent were 55-4 at lunch.

Darren Stevens and Jamie Dalrymple counter-attacked after lunch with a succession of boundaries as conditions improved. They put on 53 together before Stevens was bowled by David Masters. These were the kind of batting conditions Kent were expecting at the start but with only the lower order remaining wickets continued to fall and they went in to tea at 145-7.

Maurice Chambers quickly cleaned up the tail after the interval to finish with 3 wickets. Kent's seamers weren't nearly as successful as Alastair Cook and Alviro Peterson saw off all they had to offer, Ben Kemp's first over going for 15 runs.

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Davies Takes 6 But Kent Heading for Defeat



17 wickets fell today as Mark Davies helped dismiss Essex for 215, but Kent ended the day on 86-7, a lead of just 32.

Kent started well in the morning session, keeping the bowling very tight, and Davies soon had his reward as he got Alviro Peterson LBW and then enduced an edge from Ravi Bopara. Alastair Cook brought up his half-century but looked less than comfortable against the spin of James Tredwell and hit one in the air straight to Jamie Dalrymple. Simon Cook removed Adam Wheater in his second spell but captain James Foster held firm and brought up his own 50 on the stroke of lunch.

Greg Smith looked aggressive after the break but Davies got rid of him with a perfect inswinger before dismissing Graham Napier for 1. Foster began to hit out with the tail but Cook trapped him LBW for 71 and Davies cleaned up the tail to record his 3rd 5-wicket haul of the season and Essex led by just 54. Rob Key couldn't survive until tea though as David Masters generated a bit of extra pace to surprise him.

Essex once again had the best of the conditions after tea and with the pitch breaking up, it was another testing time for Kent's fragile batting line-up. Reece Topley was the pick of the bowlers again, removing Daniel Bell-Drummond, Darren Stevens and Jamie Dalrymple and when Charl Willoughby got Geraint Jones for 4 there were whispers that Essex could finish the match off today. Tredwell and Cook held firm until the close but Essex are firmly in the driving seat going into day 3.

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Davies Battles Hard But Essex Win



Mark Davies took another 6 wickets today to make Essex's chase of 70 runs much harder than it should have been.

Davies also starred with the bat along with Simon Cook (34) and James Tredwell (26) to give themselves something to bowl at. Reece Topley, strangely given the man of the match award having taken 7 wickets in the match to Davies' 12, finished off the Kent tail midway through the first session but Kent were buoyed by the tail's determination and Cook and Davies came straight back out to open the bowling.

Alastair Cook and Alviro Peterson again got off to a good start and it seemed the win would be merely a formality, but Rob Key knew he needed to take wickets and his decision to leave all the close fielders in paid off as Cook edged to 3rd slip. Davies removed Peterson soon after and the very next ball James Foster nicked one and was caught by his opposite number. With Davies on a roll and on a hat-trick, every man was brought into a catching position but Adam Wheater was unfazed, pummeling the ball through the offside for 4. Ravi Bopara played some nice shots but he was one of 3 wickets to fall in as many overs as Kent sensed an upset. Greg Smith eventually saw Essex home, but not before another scare as Davies removed David Masters with 1 needed for victory to finish with match figures of 12-82, all 12 wickets having been taken in the space of a day and a half.

It should not be ignored however that this performance from Kent was abysmal and without Davies it would have been a disaster. They now sit at the bottom of the pile with just 25 points from 5 matches.

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Kent vs Northamptonshire



Northamptonshire travel to Canterbury today to take on bottom of the table Kent. Kent are unchanged from their surprisingly narrow defeat by Essex, keeping faith with the top order that crumbled twice in that match. Rob Key has chosen to bowl first though, not wishing to put himself under pressure under more cloudy skies.

Northants have made two changes to their side since the reverse fixture, with captain Andrew Hall and wicket-keeper David Murphy returning in place of Stephen Peters and Robert White.

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Willey, Vass Frustrate Kent



Kent's seamers continued their good form on an overcast day but David Willey and Chaminda Vaas put on an unbroken 99 for the 8th wicket to ensure they survived into day 2.

Kent's decision to field first seemed immediately justified as the new ball swung all over the place and Simon Cook removed Kyle Coetzer for a duck. 3 overs later Niall O'Brien received the same treatment from Mark Davies and when Rob Newton was caught behind off Ben Kemp, Northamptonshire were in trouble. David Sales and Alex Wakely batted well together though and ensured there was no further damage before lunch.

Wakely fell in the first over after the interval but Sales batted well with David Murphy, with both passing 50, first hitting James Tredwell out of the attack and then patiently waiting for the bad ball from Kent's seamers. Kemp eventually got Murphy to edge behind and the catch was gratefully taken by Geraint Jones and Davies took a further 2 wickets to leave Northants 209-7 at tea.

Kent took no further wickets however, despite being economical. Willey and Vaas were patient and happy to leave anything outside off stump. Davies and Cook once again made the ball swing round corners but Northants survived to fight another day.

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Kent Follow On After Another Collapse



Kent's top order showed another pathetic display of batting ineptitude and followed on, closing on 28-0, still 152 runs behind Northamptonshire.

The day began brightly for Kent, dismissing Northants for 333, although David Willey and Chaminda Vaas both reached half centuries. Mark Davies finished with a 3rd 5-wicket haul in as many innings and he would be forgiven for being more than a little angry with Kent's batting displays in the 3 corresponding innings they have played. David Willey ripped through the top order, with Kent 15-4 at lunch.

Jamie Dalrymple and Geraint Jones offered some counter-attacking resistance after the break, each hitting a 6 off Lee Daggett, but they were removed by Andrew Hall and Kyle Coetzer respectively. That brought Kent's best batsman of the season to the crease, a certain James Tredwell, who comiled a composed 40 off 73 balls, sharing 33 with Simon Cook and 27 with Ben Kemp. For a while it looked as though Kent may undeservedly avoid the follow on but Jack Brooks returned to remove the tail quickly.

Rob Key and Daniel Bell-Drummond looked slightly better second time round, but having contributed to what will almost certainly be a match-losing collapse, they will need big runs tomorrow to make up for it.

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Willey Inspires Northants Innings Win



David Willey took 4-58 as Northamptonshire again bowled Kent out for less than 200 to win by an innings and 10 runs.

Willey and Jack Brooks again provided too much for Kent's top order to handle and it was the same old story as Jamie Dalrymple and Geraint Jones were forced to come in and provide the resistance. Brooks removed Rob Key, Brendan Nash and Ben Harmison whilst Willey got Daniel Bell-Drummond and Darren Stevens as Kent took lunch at 107-5.

Dalrymple continued to bat sensibly after the interval but Jones soon became Willey's 3rd victim and James Tredwell his 4th soon after. Dalrymple farmed the strike from the tail as he desperately tried to make Northants bat again but with Mark Davies looking like he would get out from every ball he faced, Dalrymple got too aggressive and was out to Kyle Coetzer for the second time in the match. It was all over.

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Kent vs Unicorns



Kent face the Unicorns at home in their second Challenge Trophy match of the season. Again they name an unchanged side, despite recent batting failures and despite good performances from Alex Blake and Mitchell Duckett in the seconds. The Unicorns strength so far this season has been their bowling, with 3 bowlers averaging under 20, so it will be interesting to see how Kent's collapse-prone batsman tackle them.

Rob Key won the toss and batted.