Kent under GrahamB (v12.24)

[GrahamB]

DERBYSHIRE v KENT (County Championship D2 2013)

Batting first, it was looking dicey at 66/3, before Key and Procter (65) came together to add 115 for the fourth wicket.
played a great skipper's hand to hold the innings together, scoring a solid century.
After Key fell, the tail wagged with Tredwell (31) and Murtagh (33) causing some frustration for the tiring Derbyshire bowlers.
All out for 354, with the much maligned John Clare was the destroyer, taking 5/88.

When we had the home side at 165/5, we were definitely on top, but Garry Park (112) and Clare (70) brought their side back into the match with a sixth wicket stand of 143.
Fortunately for us, once that stand was broken at 308/6, the innings fell away and Derbyshire were dismissed for 365.
Andy Carter finished with the best figures, 4/82.

The weather had turned very cloudy and the pitch was also taking a fair amount of turn now, but nobody could have expected what was to follow.
After the seamers reduced us to 64/4, the spin bowling of Craddock then wreaked havoc upon us.
Only Tim Ambrose (46) was able to show good resistance as we were rolled for a pitiful 159 all out.
Craddock picked up a career best 5/40 and Clare backed up his first innings display with 3/54.

The home side required 145 to win and were able to achieve it for the loss of four wickets.
Tredwell picked up 3/34, but we just didn't have enough runs on the board to have set up a more challenging chase.



Our first loss of the season and we're struggling already.

[GrahamB]

Another away match in the County Championship, this time at recently relegated Worcestershire.
Again, our side remains unchanged. The lads have been practising hard and are keen to make amends for the defeat at Derbyshire.

[DaveK93]

Not the best start, but still plenty of time to reach the upper echelons of the league! How are the new signings settling in?

[GrahamB]

Not the best start, but still plenty of time to reach the upper echelons of the league! How are the new signings settling in?

Haven't seen anything to rave about from Luke Proctor yet. When he shows some batting form, I'll give him some technique training to better handle spin.

Tim Ambrose is still settling in and hasn't contributed much with the bat either.

Erik Beckett has been steady with both bat and ball, but the jury is still out on him.

Tim Murtagh has been okay opening the bowling attack, but Andy Carter needs to produce more at this stage.

Really looking forward to having Philander's services at some point.

[GrahamB]

WORCESTERSHIRE v KENT (County Championship D2 2013)

A much improved batting performance this time round although some players have still to find their form.
Key (128) and Cole (83) were the only sizable contributors on our first innings total of 430 all out.
Naylor (31), Cowdrey (38) and Beckett (37) all got starts, but failed to go on.
Shantry was the most dangerous of the home attack, finishing with 3/75.

Ali (157) and Di Venuto (100no) both enjoyed the batting conditions too, as Worcestershire cruised through to 487/5 before declaring an hour before stumps on the third day.

The pitch was giving uneven bounce by this stage, so we needed to bat prudently.
Key (47) and Cole (65) were again the pick of the batsmen as we batted safely through to 255/5 declared, making the game safe.
Shantry troubled us again as he bagged 3/39.

Our bowlers had just over an hour to torture the Worcestershire batsmen and Murtagh benefitted by claiming the scalp for first innings century-maker, Ali, for 10.
The home side batted through to the end in rather pedestrian fashion to finish at 24/1.



Hey - we're not bottom yet!

[GrahamB]

Another away match in the County Championship, as we visit the other side that got relegated, Somerset.

With overseas pace ace, Vernon Philander, still playing in overseas league (presumably the IPL), our reserve overseas player, Windies pace bowler Mervin Matthew, returned from international duty.
Matthew comes straight into the playing eleven to boost our bowling attack. Fabian Cowdrey is the player to make way, with Erik Beckett preferred to fill the number 7 batting slot.

[GrahamB]

SOMERSET v KENT (County Championship D2 2013)

What an incredible match that induced a rollercoaster of emotions as it progressed.
With very cloudy weather expected to arrive on the second day, it seemed a good idea to bat after we won the toss.
However, the Somerset bowlers ripped our innings apart, bowling us out for a pathetic 126!
The seamers, Hussain and Overton, finished with figures of 4/26 and 4/39 respectively, while slow left armer Doctrell took 2/26.
Cole (27) and Beckett (21) were the best of our batsmen.

At this stage I'm thinking, "Oh shit - we're in for a long and horrible season!"
Imagine my shock and delight then, as our bowlers did an even better demolition job on the home side!
The bowlers seemed virtually unplayable as we humiliated the Somerset side by bowling them out for just 70!
Mervin Matthew (3/18), Tim Murtagh (4/31), Andy Carter (1/8) and Erik Beckett (2/9) all had a field day!
Top scorer for the home side was Suppiah with 16.

So a first innings lead of 56, but nearing stumps with very cloudy conditions expected for Day Two.
However, the first day action hadn't finished yet, as the Somerset opening bowlers, Hussain and Overton, sent Key, Cole and Powell back into the pavilion in short succession to have us at 14/3 at stumps.

23 wickets had fallen on Day One and now we faced very cloudy conditions on Day Two.
I wasn't really filled with confidence, because the unbeaten Somerset side (three from three before this match) have a very strong batting line up.
With an overall lead of just 70 and with only seven second innings wickets remaining, I was prepared for the worst.

Imagine my surprise then when the cloud cover seemed to take all the sting out of the wicket on Day Two.
Naylor (89) and Procter (76) stayed together until well into the afternoon session, putting on 155 for the fourth wicket.
Once they were both gone, along with Ambrose, we were 243/6 and the game could still go either way.
Erik Beckett (115no) and James Tredwell (60) then put on 155 for the seventh wicket.
We were able to declare at 447/8, just over half an hour into the final session on Day Three.

Somerset needed 504 to win, while we had an over an hour bowling at them late on Day Three, and then all of the last day to try and dismiss them.

Murtagh continued on with his superb bowling to send both Trescothick and Kieswetter back cheaply, and at stumps on Day Three, Somerset were already two down.
And the carnage resumed on the final day as the Somerset batsmen nad no answer to the rampaging Matthew (4/44) and Murtagh (5/60).

Oh what a difference an extra decent bowler makes!



Looking better, but more wins needed!

[GrahamB]

Our opening Challenge Trophy match is away at Worcestershire.
Here are the two sides:

[UTBash]

Good signing is proctor!!! At lancs in 2017 hes been our leading run scorer for 3 seasons! Handy bowler to mix it up in the middle and is usually a partnership breaker.

[GrahamB]

WORCESTERSHIRE v KENT (Challenge Trophy 2013)

A very disappointing loss to start our campaign.
We batted well to set up a challenging total for Worcestershire to chase, but our bowling didn't back up.

[GrahamB]

Good signing is proctor!!! At lancs in 2017 hes been our leading run scorer for 3 seasons! Handy bowler to mix it up in the middle and is usually a partnership breaker.

Let's see how he goes here. That sounds promising!

[GrahamB]

A home fixture for us in the County Championship with Glamorgan coming to town.
No changes from the side that dealt to Somerset.

[GrahamB]

KENT v GLAMORGAN (County Championship D2 2013)

We won the toss and put Glamorgan in to bat under very cloudy conditions. The pitch was not expected to deteriorate much during the match, so we felt that this was our best chance of gaining some sort of advantage.

The decision paid off early as we had the visitors on the rack at 84/5 not long into the afternoon session, Mervin Matthew and Tim Murtagh again doing the damage.
Will Bragg and Mark Wallace stopped the rot, and aided by improving conditions, they put on 150 for the sixth wicket to rescue their side from embarrassment.
We eventually dismissed Glamorgan for 305.
Matthew (4/64), Murtagh (4/90) and Carter (2/65) cleaned up between them.

We made a solid start and at 167/2, things were going according to plan.
However, then the wheels fell off as we lost wickets regularly to concede a tiny first innings lead.
All out for 301, with Key (35), Cole (60) and Powell (71) the only contributors of note.
For the visitors, James Harris stood out with the fine figures of 4/87.

Glamorgan came out in their second innings with positive intent.
Led by Gareth Rees (131) and Danny King (67), they put themselves in a position to declare at 279/4 shortly before lunch on the final day.
Erik Beckett gained some bowling confidence in taking 2/41.

We required 284 for victory in just over two sessions, but when we slumped to 96/5 during the afternoon session, it became a battle for survival.
Dominic Cole (64no) found some good support firstly from Luke Procter (25) and then Erik Beckett (37).
There were some late flutters as we lost three quick wickets towards the end, but it was too little, too late on the part of the Glamorgan bowlers.



Holding on in there for now, but our batting still looks a bit fragile at times!

[GrahamB]

News

Young batsman, Fabian Cowdrey, has picked up an injury and will be out for a month.
This really leaves only Alex Blake as an option if we need to replace one of the top/middle order batsmen in our FC side.

[GrahamB]

Off to Northamptonshire now for our second Challenge Trophy match.
A few changes due to the expected weather and pitch conditions.

We currently favour Alex Blake in the OD side ahead of Mike Powell, but we've dropped both Erik Beckett and James Tredwell in favour of Darren Stevens and Adam Ball.
Hopefully this will tighten up our bowling.