Kent under GrahamB (v12.24)

[GrahamB]

Leicestershire are coming to town for a County Championship match.

As they have several quality spinners in their side, there was no way we wanted a spinners' pitch for this one.
In fact, we went for a docile pitch to try and allow some of our batsmen an opportunity to play themselves into some form.

Because of the pitch conditions and unsettled/cloudy weather that's expected, we've given Tredwell a rest to give promising left arm seamer, Adam Ball, a chance to capitalise on his recent successes in the second team.

[GrahamB]

KENT v LEICESTERSHIRE (County Championship D2)

Leicestershire won the toss and batted first.
Our lads bowled and fielded magnificently though to restrict them to 280, their innings held together by a fine 99 from Greg Smith.
Davies was the pick of our bowlers, finishing with the fine figures of 4/62.

We had been expecting big things this season from veteran batsman, Mike Powell, but apart from his century in the Oxford University match, he has been disappointing. Today he delivered with a fluent century to set us up for a handy first innings lead.
Alex Blake hit his highest score of the season with 67, and Brendan Nash notched up yet another half century, as we got through to 372.
Wayne White and Jigar Naik proved to be real handfuls, picking up three and four wickets respectively.

Confidence was high as we walked out onto the field to bowl a second time, but our bid for our first victory of the season was thwarted almost singlehandedly by opening batsman, Will Jefferson.
Jefferson was masterful as he dominated our attack on his way to 153, allowing the visitors to declare at 336/6.

We required 244 to win, but there was never going to be enough time to achieve that, especially after we lost both openers cheaply.
Nash and Powell steadied things, but another quick flurry of wickets midway through the final session sent a few flutters through the home crowd.
Fortunately, Alex Blake held things together though as the match petered out to a draw.



Still bottom of the points table though.

[GrahamB]

News

Adam Ball has picked up a knee injury and will be out for two weeks at least.

Azhar Mahmood has returned from the IPL and will now be available for us.
He achieved a batting average of 24.87 and picked up 22 wickets at an average of 19.23 in the eighteen IPL matches he played.

Charlie Shreck has been doing well in the second team and is bowling with improved accuracy. Look for his possible return to the first side soon.

After going down to the Windies by 19 runs in the 1st Test, England hit back with a comfortable 10 wicket win in the 2nd Test to level the series up with one to play.

[GrahamB]

Warwickshire are visiting us for a Challenge Trophy match.
Mahmood comes straight back into the side.

[cricfan1]

desperately need Regen players

Good player is key of winning

Keep Some Players only for 4 day and some only for OD

In Last over keep Ball Outside this is very beneficial

[GrahamB]

KENT v WARWICKSHIRE (Challenge Trophy)

We fought like hell to score 202/6, but English batsmen Trott and Bell made the chase look easy.



Now one win and two losses in this competition and the signs are not good.

[GrahamB]

We're off to play the Unicorns in another Challenge Trophy match.
No changes to the OD side yet. Let's see if the lads can redeem themselves.

[Imager36]

I've started a Kent game... you're right, they're bad. Got thrashed by an innings and 84 in my first Championship match!

EDIT - In my second innings of my second match, we scored 433 with our opening partnership O.o Still only drew though!

[GrahamB]

I've started a Kent game... you're right, they're bad. Got thrashed by an innings and 84 in my first Championship match!

EDIT - In my second innings of my second match, we scored 433 with our opening partnership O.o Still only drew though!

Hope you'll keep us updated with your Kent side's progress.

[GrahamB]

UNICORNS v KENT (Challenge Trophy)

Well this one wasn't much of a contest!

Batting first, Neil Naylor scored his maiden century, as he anchored the innings, while Darren Stevens fell just shy of 50.

Our bowlers tore then through the Unicorns batting, with Neil Naylor showing that he's a very useful part time spinner with 3/19 off his five overs.



Hey - we're in with a chance of progressing I guess, but I'm not holding my breath at this stage.
After all, our two wins have both been against the unfancied Unicorns.

[GrahamB]

A County Championship match against visiting Hampshire is our next fixture.
Our team certainly looks stronger and more balanced with Mahmood available.

Darren Stevens has been struggling for form since his return from injury, so we're giving him a short spell in the second team to see if he can regain some form.
This gives youngster, Fabian Cowdrey, another chance to prove himself at this level.
Our groundsman has prepared another good batting wicket.

[GrahamB]

KENT v HAMPSHIRE (County Championship D2)

We made a hash of batting first, only scoring 316 in great batting conditions.
Nash continued his fine season with 70, while Cowdrey celebrated his return to the first eleven with a composed 73.
The Hampshire spin duo of Dawson and Briggs were the bowlers to do most damage, taking three wickets apiece.

We had Hampshire at 101/3, but centuries from two 21 year old batsmen, James Vince and keeper Michael Bates, saw the visitors amass 501/6 declared.
A disappointing bowling performance to back up a poor batting performance meant that we faced a first innings deficit of 185.

Fortunately, our batsmen showed more grit in the second innings. Naylor backed up his maiden OD century with his maiden first class century, and Powell blasted his second century of the season in a welcome return to form.
We declared at 378/2, giving our bowlers an hour of useful bowling practice.

Mahmood and Davies came out with fire in their nostrils, determined to prove a point after the first innings performance.
Three quick wickets fell, leaving us to wonder what might have been.



Our goal is to actually win a game in the second half of the season!



Here are our stats for the first half of the County Championship.
Our batting is looking reasonable now, but our bowling needs work.

[GrahamB]

Coming up - Kent v Northamptonshire in a crucial Challenge Trophy match.

[GrahamB]

KENT v NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (Challenge Trophy)

Our bowling attack got absolutely monstered by Kyle Coetzer, who smashed a rollicking unbeaten 149, as he led his side to a daunting 280/4!

We tried to keep up with the required run rate, but kept losing wickets. Most of our batsmen got starts, but we needed one or two to go on to a big score and that just didn't happen.
James Tredwell hit a late flurry of runs towards the end, but it was too late by then.



Long way to go yet!

[GrahamB]

KENT v SUSSEX (Twenty Over Cup)

Woo-hoo! We won our first 20/20 match!

Joyce led the way as Sussex batted first and put up a challenging 168/4 for us to chase in the opening game of this season's competition.

We decided to start with a hiss and a roar, and it backfired miserably as we lost three quick wickets.
However, Naylor and Nash stopped the rot, firstly steadying the innings and then accelerating away to pull off a tremendous victory with an all time recod partnership for Kent.