Kent under GrahamB (v12.24)

[DaveK93]

And you're not?

Out of all the stories both of yours seem the most enjoyable to follow!

I'm inclined to agree with you, I look forward to seeing the next installment of them!

[GrahamB]

LEICESTERSHIRE v KENT (County Championship D2)

This pitch reminded me of a sub-continent pitch, where the side batting first would have good batting conditions, and then would start turning sharply early.
Taking that into account, it was a big blow to our chances when Leicestershire won the toss.

When we had the home side at 161/5, there was a very real chance that we could gain an advantage, but opening batsman, Greg Smith, had survived the damage and anchored a determined fightback.
Smith shared a 73 run partnership for the sixth wicket with Thornely (33), a 91 run partnership for the seventh wicket with Cobb (58) and an 82 run partnership for the eighth wicket with White (44), before we finally snared him for 184.
However, a total of 416 all out was big under the circumstances and the pitch was already turning.
Mervin Matthew was the pick of our bowlers with 4/84, while Adam Riley outshone his senior spin partner Tredwell with figures of 3/102.

In reply we'd got through to 44/1, when Jefferson and White precipitated a collapse to have us reeling at 96/6!
Tredwell (70) led a superb rearguard action with Murtagh (21) and Matthew (23) to get us through to 239 all out and spare our blushes a little, but we were still 177 runs in arrears and forced to follow on.
Wayne White (4/74) and Will Jefferson (2/6) were the pick of the bowlers.

Following on, Naylor and Northeast put on an opening partnership of 126, although both were put down along the way.
Upon Northeast's dismissal for 59, Cole fell cheaply for the second time in the match and we were back in the poo at 134/2.
Powell then played a stubborn captain's knock as he combined with Naylor to put on 90 for the third wicket, before Wayne White came back with the new ball to clean out Naylor for a fine 114. At 224/3, things were going well.
However, White bowled Procter for 0 and had Ambrose caught in the slips for 0 in the same over and 224/5 didn't look quite so safe!
Powell was still there though and he proved to be the rock that was needed. His defiant 83, along with resistance from Blake (27) and Murtagh (36no) allowed us to declare at 371/8, leaving Leicestershire with just over an hour's batting to close out the match.

Jefferson and Smith denied our opening bowlers cheap wickets though, as they defended stoutly to go in at 20/0.



A draw is certainly better than a loss, but our batting is causing real headaches at present.

[GrahamB]

News

Our first choice overseas player, pace demon Vernon Philander, has now become available for selection.
Just as well, because Mervin Matthew is required again for international duty.

[GrahamB]

Yet another away fixture for us in the County Championship, this time at Hampshire.

Key returns to the side and takes back the captaincy.
Out of form Procter and Ambrose keep their spots for now, while Alex Blake gets another opportunity at the expense of Beckett.
Fortunately for Procter, Fabian Cowdrey is still injured, otherwise he could well have found himself playing for the second team. He really needs to regather some form quickly.
Pace bowler Andy Carter is out of form and has been left out again, this time making way for young Ben Kemp.

[GrahamB]

HAMPSHIRE v KENT (County Championship D2 2013)

We put the home side in under very cloudy conditions and had them struggling at 129/4.
They recovered to get through to a healthy 374, thanks largely to two big partnerships, one of 82 for the fifth wicket between Ervine (47) and Adams (45), and one of 128 for the seventh wicket between Bates (88) and Wood (34).
Carberry (45) and Dawson (49) also made useful contributions.
Philander made a useful debut for us, picking up 4/68, while Ben Kemp celebrated his first team opportunity by taking 3/91.

Naylor (50) held our top order together, but when he went and Blake followed in quick succession, we were in trouble yet again at 129/5.
Then two of our under pressure players, Procter (118) and Ambrose (43) came together to add 100 for the sixth wicket.
Procter then fashioned useful lower order partnerships with Philander (30) and Tredwell (33) before he was the eighth wicket to fall at 301/8.
Still over seventy runs behind, Murtagh (33no) and Tredwell added a further 65 for the ninth wicket to almost get us level.
We were finally all out for 366, conceding a very tiny first innings deficit.
Ali (4/95) and Balcombe (5/70) did most of the damage.

Hampshire again came out to bat with positive intent, and were able to declare at 276/9, thanks to nice little knocks from Katich (60), Dawson (41), Adams (46) and Wood (42no).
Murtagh (3/78) and Kemp (2/34) were the most successful of our bowlers.

Set 284 to chase down for victory, it was never really on, but we needed to be careful to boot.
Rob Key (126no) was in an aggressive mood and came out swinging and was still there at the end as the game finished as a draw at 197/3.
Ali and Balcombe were again the two most dangerous bowlers for the home side.

Two positives for us from the match - Procter coming out of his batting slump with a tremendous century and Kemp showing good wicket-taking ability, despite still being a bit too expensive.



We need more wins, but with most of our remaining matches being at home, we're quietly confident.

[GrahamB]

A Challenge Trophy match now against visiting Northamptonshire.

We're going in with an all pace attack, Darren Stevens taking a middle order slot ahead of Powell.
Ball and Carter will need to perform well, with Charlie Shreck breathing down their necks for a spot in the OD playing eleven.

[DaveK93]

Kemp is looking like a real prospect, future England perhaps?

[GrahamB]

Kemp is looking like a real prospect, future England perhaps?

Depends whether he develops a lot further I guess. He's quite expensive unfortunately, despite the fact that I have him on permanent technique training for accuracy.

[GrahamB]

KENT v NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (Challenge Trophy 2013)

We were put into bat by the visitors and responded by scoring quickly throughout our innings to post a challenging 259.
Most of our batsmen contributed, with Darren Stevens (48) and Neil Naylor (38) the most productive.
Jack Brooks was the most impressive of the Northamptonshire bowlers, finishing with 2/34.

Tim Murtagh (3/33) had a fiery first spell to send the top three batsmen back, and at 63/3, Northamptonshire were further up against it.
Sales (38) and Newton (48) kept their side in contention, but Philander (3/27) and Stevens (2/31) destroyed their hopes as they ripped through the middle and lower order.
Adam Ball (2/34) returned to clean up the last two wickets and we'd achieved an easy victory in the end.



Still much work to do though!

[GrahamB]

Switching back to County Championship, we have another home match, this time against Derbyshire.

Alex Blake gets another chance, even though he's not produced the goods in the longer form of the game in the three games he's played so far this season.
Truth is that with Cowdrey still unavailable and with Eric Beckett failing to display the talent that we thought we saw before signing him, the only other batting options are Darren Stevens and Geraint Jones.

Andy Carter comes back into the side ahead of Ben Kemp, despite the latter having a reasonable outing in the previous match.

[GrahamB]

KENT v DERBYSHIRE (County Championship D2 2013)

After choosing to bat first, our flaky batting saw us in early trouble once Rob Key (44) was dismissed to leave us at 81/4.
Procter and Blake added 61 for the fifth wicket, before Blake danced down the wicket to Wainwright and was left stranded after missing the ball.
And when Tim Ambrose continued his horror season by edging Wainwright into the slips off the very next ball, we were 142/6 and in deep doo-doo!
Luke Procter had finally shown some form with a tidy century in the previous game, and fortunately he came to our rescue again here, with help from Philander. These two added a record 189 runs for the seventh wicket, before Philander fell cruelly short of his fourth first class century.
Procter went on to make 143, as we came back from the dead to score a respectable 387 all out.
The success of the Derbyshire spinners, Wainwright (4/67) and young Tom Knight (2/26) was well deserved.

We had hopes that early wickets could see us well on the way to victory, but Matt Lineker (62) and Wayne Madsen (75) batted solidly to put together 140 for the opening stand, before falling in quick succession.
Cadbury and Durston were just starting to pose another threat, but a vicious ball from Murtagh crashed into the latter's helmet and saw him carted off to hospital. Reports soon came through that Durston had a fracture that would keep him out of cricket for a month.
After Cadbury and Park went at 230/4 (effectively 230/5), we again harboured hopes of a handy first innings lead, but they were dashed by Wainwright (89) and Poynton (71), who put on 116 for the fifth wicket.
We finally dismissed the visitors for 398, but with only a day left, there was little chance of a result in the match.
Tredwell (4/99) was the most successful of our bowlers.

Key (70) and Naylor (51) combined in a century opening stand to allay fears of another calamitous start.
Then Cole (37) and Blake (50no) helped us through to 255/5 before we declared to give our bowlers the best part of a session to end things off.
Wainwright (3/47) was again dangerous and would deservedly gain the man of the match award.

Murtagh and Tredwell grabbed a cheap wicket each, as Derbyshire saw out affairs at 66/2.



A lack of wins is going to cost us if we're not careful!

[GrahamB]

Off to play the Unicorns in the Challenge Trophy now.

Ambrose has been dropped and will spend a spell in the second team to see if can regather some form. So in comes Geraint Jones to take over the keeping duties.

[GrahamB]

UNICORNS v KENT (Challenge Trophy 2013)

We got out of jail in this one!

Batting first, we were quickly in strife at 23/3, struggling to score at a decent rate.
Zimbabwean, Glenn Querl, and the equally impressive Steven Cheetham did the damage.
Cole (38) was the stabilising factor for us, along with good support from Stevens (24).
However, when they were both gone at 121/7, it was left to Philander (17no) to get us through to 153 all out.
Querl finished with 3/20 and Cheetham 1/20.

The Unicorn openers, Tripathi (23) and Ord (38), started off at a clipping pace, being particularly brutal on Adam Ball.
However, when they were both gone at 71/2, Philander and Tredwell started to get us back into the match with three further quick wickets.
We were a bit more comfortable with the Unicorns at 89/5, but a fine partnership between Levitt (29) and Park (30) had the youngsters back on top and in near sight of victory at 143/5!
Philander's bowling had been disappointing in the four day game against Derbyshire, but he more than made amends here as he came back with a fiery spell to clinch a remarkable victory for us.
Philander finished with a man of the match 6/23 and we'd miraculously pulled off an unlikely victory!



And the points table.

[GrahamB]

KENT v SUSSEX (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

A promising start, but the visitors edged us on the day.
Mark Davies received a mixed reaction upon his return to our ground.

The Sussex openers set their side up for victory, Joyce with an aggressive 74 and Prior with a more restrained 41.
Darren Stevens was impressive, finishing with 4/25.

Naylor (46) and Cole (66) kept us in the hunt until late in the piece, but the Sussex bowlers stepped up when it mattered and we fell just short.
Davies proved a point, being the pick of the bowlers with 2/28, including the vital wicket of Cole.

[GrahamB]

News

Having cleaned up NZ 2-0 in the test series, England went on to lose the ODI series 1-2.
They made some amends by winning the only T20 international though.

The Aussies are up next.