Kent story

[djmaddison8]

New Inspires Unicorns as Kent Search for Win



Rob Key hit an unbeaten century but it was not enough as the Unicorns won by 4 wickets.

Key and Daniel Bell-Drummond got Kent off to a slow but secure start, scoring 13 off the first 5 overs before each hitting their first boundary off Keith Parsons. They continued for the first half of the innings, scoring at above 4 an over and Bell-Drummond reached his highest List A score before being bowled by legspinner Amar Rashid. This brought the out of form Brendan Nash to the crease and he poked and prodded and hit a couple of nice shots but was out for 19 off 45 balls. Key then looked to up the scoring rate with Ben Harmison with 10 overs to go. Each hit a 6 off Dan Wheeldon and the run rate rose to about 5 and a half at one point but they were unable to keep it up and Harmison was Rashid's 3rd wicket for 27. Darren Stevens came in for the last couple of overs and helped Key to his first century of the season. The result was 206-3, a good but not unbeatable score.

The Unicorns got off to an even slower start than Kent though and when the two openers fell to Simon Cook and Ben Kemp it looked like it might be Kent's day. Lewis Hill announced his arrival with a boundary however and he and Tom New threw caution to the wind as they put together a fast partnership. The real turning point came when Harmison was brought on. He had taken 4 wickets in his last one day match, but his 2 overs went for 23 and suddenly the required run rate was only just over 4. Hill perished to James Tredwell soon after for a quickfire 32, but New continued on his way with Josh Knappett as they put on 88 together, scoring runs off every bowler, and especially Cook. Kent's twin spin attack of Tredwell and Jamie Dalrymple was slightly more economical but the batsmen soon found the gaps. With 11 overs to go Unicorns needed just 40 runs and Key had no option but to attack and try and take wickets. He brought the field up and it paid off as Tredwell took the wickets of New, Knappett and Craig Park but it was too little too late as Glenn Querl hit a run a ball 22 to see his side home.

[djmaddison8]

Kent vs Leicestershire



Kent face Leicestershire in this bottom of the table clash. Both sides will see this as their best chance of a win so far this season, although on a batsman's pitch, taking 20 wickets could be a struggle. Kent make two changes to their batting line-up after collapses in each of their last 4 innings. Mike Powell comes back into the side after a big hundred for the seconds and Alex Blake plays his first Championship match of the season following consistent performances for the same. Brendan Nash and Ben Harmison drop out.

For Leicestershire, Nayim Malik makes his first appearance of the season. Matthew Hoggard won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first.

[djmaddison8]

Sarwan Annihilates Kent Attack



Ramnaresh Sarwan hit an unbeaten 166 off 209 balls to put Leicestershire in a great position at Canterbury.

Leicestershire's opening batsmen scored slowly against the new ball but had little trouble afterwards on a gloriously sunny day. Jacques du Toit and Will Jefferson put on 69 together before Darren Stevens luckily removed the former as he chopped onto his stumps. They had no further problems before lunch though and Jefferson hit Stevens for 6 before Ramnaresh Sarwan hit Mark Davies for a flurry of boundaries.

Davies and Ben Kemp bowled brilliantly after lunch however and Kemp had Jefferson dropped at leg gully by Stevens. It mattered little however as he was caught behind off Davies in the next over, quickly followed by Ned Eckersley. Greg Smith looked in all sorts of trouble early in his innings, but he found some respite when James Tredwell came on and continued building with Sarwan, who reached 81 by tea with the score 221-3.

There was another good spell for Kent just before the new ball as Tredwell found some spin and Kemp got one through Smith's defences on 49, but Rob Key decided to take the new ball anyway. It backfired horribly. Sarwan and Michael Thornely seemed to enjoy the ball coming on to the bat and hit exactly 100 runs in the remaining 18 overs, Thornely bringing up his half century in the last of them.

[Imager36]

Oh dear... Power through this rough patch! As we all know, county mode on normal is ridiculous for the first season and then eases up significantly.

[LastWicket]

You should try making spinners pitches and give Tredwell net practice, it work well for me. Wasnt get much from him until a few weeks of practice.

1st and 2nd inns against Leicester. It was a tight game as my batting order collapsed as usual in 2nd inns.

[djmaddison8]

Oh dear... Power through this rough patch! As we all know, county mode on normal is ridiculous for the first season and then eases up significantly.

Yeh I know, I'm not about to quit any time soon. Very frustrating though! I either get into good positions and then lose it, or nearly pull off amazing victories having been outplayed for the rest of the match.

[djmaddison8]

You should try making spinners pitches and give Tredwell net practice, it work well for me. Wasnt get much from him until a few weeks of practice.

I had been preparing spinner's pitches, but it was the batting that was letting me down. Tredwell's performed fairly well as have most of my bowlers, but I'm preparing batting pitches now just so my batsmen will stay in for a while!

[djmaddison8]

Powell, Stevens Offer Hope for Kent



Mike Powell and Darren Stevens put on an unbroken 137 to give Kent hope having bowled Leicestershire out for 535.

Mark Davies removed Michael Thornely early in the morning session but Joshua Cobb came in with a license to play shots and he did just that, hitting 40 off 50 balls in a quickfire partnership of 64 with Ramnaresh Sarwan. Sarwan was approaching 200 and in desparation Rob Key turned to Jamie Dalrymple and although Sarwan reached the milestone off his first over, Dalrymple got him before lunch to end an innings that had lasted more than a day.

Key stuck with Dalrymple after lunch and it paid off again as he bowled Robbie Joseph, providing ammunition to those who say he has been under-used as a bowler so far this season. The tail was quickly seen off and Key strode back out with Daniel Bell-Drummond, both confident of a big score on a helpful pitch. They were both back in the hutch before tea however, falling to Leicestershire's veteran captain Matthew Hoggard.

Kent fans were left waiting for the inevitable collapse but Powell, dropped earlier in the season, hit an invaluable, though not chanceless, half century ably assisted by Stevens, whose 50 came at a much slower rate. Although still needing another 216 runs to avoid the follow on, Kent have been given real hope for the first time in a long time that they can acheive something here.

[djmaddison8]

Kent Battle Hard But Follow On



Kent picked up 4 batting points but narrowly failed to avoid the follow on target against Leicestershire.

Mike Powell looked to be moving comfortably towards a century in the morning session until he played on off the bowling of Wayne White. As has been Kent's problem this season, one wicket bought two as Darren Stevens was out to Matthew Hoggard. Jamie Dalrymple and Alex Blake countered in aggressive style, hitting 3 sixes between them and bringing up a second batting point, but both were out to former Kent fast bowler Robbie Joseph leaving the score on 257-6 at lunch.

Geraint Jones and James Tredwell batted well together putting on 57 for the 7th wicket. Hoggard and Joseph removed them with the new ball however and when Ben Kemp departed it was 316-9 and the follow on seemed a certainty. Simon Cook and Mark Davies batted sensibly, although not without a fair bit of luck, and against all the odds got a 4th batting point and reached tea needing 34 to avoid the follow on.

The cameo was soon ended by White after the interval though, as Davies departed for 25 off 42 balls, his highest score of the season, leaving Cook stranded on 24 off 73. So Kent followed on and again lost Rob Key to Matthew Hoggard early on. Fortunately for them though, rain intervened before further damage could be done.

[djmaddison8]

Stevens, Blake Comfortably Secure Draw



Darren Stevens and Alex Blake put on an unbeaten 80 to secure a draw for Kent, only the second competitive match they haven't lost this season.

In an attritional first session, Kent scored just 51 runs for the loss of Mike Powell in the morning. Daniel Bell-Drummond hit a few nice shots and was hit on the head by a bouncer from Robbie Joseph. Luckily he was able to continue and no major damage was sustained.

He was out LBW off the same bowler straight after the interval however, having scored 41 off 133 balls. Another low-scoring session followed as Kent only seemed interested in batting out the day. Halfway through the session Ramnaresh Sarwan was brought on, to everyone's surprise, and found a decent amount of spin. It was good enough for Jamie Dalrymple who edged to slip and at tea Kent were 135-4, still 35 runs behind.

Stevens seemed determined to wipe out this deficit quickly after tea, hitting a 6 to bring up his second half century of the game. From here Kent were never really troubled and the captains eventually shook hands on a batsman's draw.

[djmaddison8]

Powell ruled out of Warwickshire match

Kent batsman Mike Powell has been ruled out of the forthcoming Challenge Trophy match at home to Warwickshire after coming down with a cold.

Although the former Glamorgan player hasn't played a one day game yet this season, he was widely expected to play in the match following his aggressive 95 in the recent Championship game against Leicestershire.

He has scored 314 First Class runs at 26.17 so far this season and has an overall List A record of 4665 runs at 26.96.

In other news, Kent welcome back Azhar Mahmood from his IPL stint. He will probably go straight into the team having taken 20 wickets at 17.75 for Kings XI Punjab, although his batting was not so impressive.

[djmaddison8]

Kent vs Warwickshire



Kent welcome Warwickshire in the Challenge Trophy with just one place separating them in the league table. Kent make two changes from the team that lost to the Unicorns. Alex Blake comes in for Brendan Nash, who has scored slowly in both his limited overs appearances thus far, and Azhar Mahmood, fresh from the IPL, replaces Simon Cook.

Warwickshire welcome back their England duo of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, who will open the batting. With Chris Woakes at number 9, this looks a very strong batting lineup. Captain Jim Troughton won the toss and chose to field.

[djmaddison8]

Kent Pair Lead Team to Victory



Darren Stevens and Alex Blake put on 80 in 8 overs to lead Kent to their first victory of the season, although Warwickshire's lower order brought them close.

Kent's innings started badly as Daniel Bell-Drummond was out first ball to Boyd Rankin and Ben Harmison and Rob Key followed soon after to leave the hosts 39-3. Stevens consolidated with Jamie Dalrymple however, putting on 89 together, although in slow fashion, scoring at just under 4 an over. The innings was turned on its head when Dalrymple fell LBW to Rankin. Blake came in in the 31st over and with Stevens, put Chris Woakes and Neil Carter to the sword, the latter finishing with 78 off his 8 overs. Stevens reached 96 off 89 balls at the beginning of the 38th but was quite happy to let Blake, the more aggressive of the two, have the strike. The next 17 balls went for 43 runs as Kent reached 213-5, Blake having hit 54 off 39 balls.

Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell began aggressively against the new ball, hitting 31 off the first 4 overs. Key kept Mark Davies and Azhar Mahmood on though and they improved, managing to keep the required rate above 5. James Tredwell was brought on in the last over of the powerplay and immediately ripped one past Bell's outside edge and two balls later Trott nicked one behind. Wickets fell in quick succession after that as Ben Kemp removed Bell, Varun Chopra and Jim Troughton before Tredwell and Jamie Dalrymple spin proved too much for Tim Ambrose, Laurie Evans and Keith Barker. When Davies returned to bowl Woakes for a duck the match seemed all but over but Rikki Clarke teamed up with Carter to put on a dangerous looking 41. With 4 overs left, Warwickshire needed just 20 runs for victory. Carter tried to launch one over mid-off, but it went high and Ben Harmison ran back about 20 yards to take a brilliant catch. With last man Rankin at the crease, Clarke looked desparate to get on strike, so deparate that he was run out by an underarm throw from bowler Mahmood to win the match for Kent.

[djmaddison8]

Unicorns vs Kent



Mike Powell makes his first one day appearance of the season, replacing Ben Harmison at No. 3 as Kent travel to the Unicorns having just acheived their first win of the season.

Rob Key won the toss and chose to bat.

[djmaddison8]

Parsons Heroics Not Enough



Keith Parsons took 5-38 and scored 47 runs but it was not enough to prevent Kent from winning their 2nd match in a row.

Parsons began economically and his first wicket came in the 10th over as Rob Key holed out to Ragheb Aga for 26. Daniel Bell-Drummond was slow to score and edged behind off Amar Rashid for 19 off 47 balls. Mike Powell and Darren Stevens rebuilt however, hitting a succession of boundaries off the legspinner and raising the run-rate towards 5 an over. Aga was also attacked as Stevens reached his 4th 50 from as many innings. Powell fell to Parsons, as well as Jamie Dalrymple two balls later, but Stevens and Alex Blake again combined to hit a quickfire 57 for the 5th wicket. A total of well over 250 looked on the cards but the Unicorns fought back getting rid of Stevens in the 90s, before Parsons got Geraint Jones and Azhar Mahmood in consecutive balls to complete his 5-fer.

Vishal Tripathi and Andy Kerr looked all at sea against the new ball and fell early to Mark Davies and Mahmood respectively. Lewis Hill and Tom New, the perpetrator of Kent's defeat last time these two sides met, looked in ominous form against the seamers but they were both removed by spin before Ben Kemp enticed Josh Knappet to edge to slip where James Tredwell took the catch. At this point the Unicorns were 125-5 and needing over 100 runs at over 5 an over. Parsons batted sensibly with Craig Park however, not finding the boundary but milking the spinners for singles. Key brought the seamers back on and brought the field up and all of a sudden there was no way through for the batsmen. They grew increasingly frustrated and missed with a series of swipes before succumbing to Mahmood and Kemp. Two more wickets fell but Kemp's final over went for 12, leaving just 9 to get off the final over with 1 wicket intact. Davies kept the first four balls to singles and 5 were needed off 2. Rashid tried to get them all in one shot and missed, forcing him to try again the next ball. He missed again and Kent were home by 4 runs.