Kent under GrahamB (v12.24)

[kulli]

With some stage hopefully being soon

[GrahamB]

Will post more results at some stage.

[GrahamB]

We've prepared a seamer-friendly wicket for the upcoming County Championship match at home against Gloucestershire.

Just two changes to our playing eleven.
Ul-Hasan comes in for Matthew, while Onions has been preferred to Piolet because the overhead conditions are unlikely to suit the medium pacer.

[GrahamB]

News

Mervin Matthew has been selected for the West Indies, despite his poor form to date this season.
This means that veteran Pakistani paceman, Naved Ul-Hasan comes into our squad.

[GrahamB]

SUSSEX v KENT (County Championship D2 2014)

We won the toss and chose to bat, even though the conditions were very cloudy. The conditions weren't expected to change much during the course of the match and the pitch was already dicey.
Key and Naylor got us off to a slow, but solid start before Key was trapped in front by Khan for 35 at 61/1.
Dennis Egan seemed to adapt to the conditions quite readily and got things moving a little more quickly. He was next to go though at 129/2, dismissed for 43.
Naylor and Procter then came together to add 115 for the third wicket. Naylor completed a dogged 108 before becoming Khan's third lbw victim at 244/3.
Cowdrey and Blake failed to get themselves established and both were gone at 293/5.
Procter found a stoic ally in keeper Ambrose and they put together an unbeaten sixth wicket partnership of 112, allowing us to declare at 405/5.
Procter completed his second century of the season to finish on 122no, while Ambrose ended on 51no.

Steffan Piolet repaid the faith shown in his selection ahead of Onions by removing both Sussex openers to have them reeling at 10/2.
The home side never recovered as our seamers cut through their innings like knives through butter.
Only Legge (81) and 41 year old Goodwin (36) were able to put up good resistance as we rolled Sussex for 211.
Piolet (4/64), Tahir (3/47) and Matthew (3/54) were the bowlers to reap the rewards from a fine team effort.

With the match already well advanced, our best hope of securing a win was to enforce the follow on and hope for a repeat performance.
And much to my delight, that's exactly what we got. The Sussex batsmen just couldn't cope with the combination of the overhead conditions, the uneven bounce and our bowling attack.
Only Nash (48) and Yardy (71) held us up as we dismissed the home side for 225 just before lunch on the final day.
Tahir (3/38) and Murtagh (3/61) were the most successful of our bowlers this time around.

We only required 31 to complete our first County Championship of the season, and Key and Naylor duly delivered.



Looks like we might resort to preparing pace friendly wickets, in search of more wins.

[GrahamB]

Egan looks like an exciting prospect. I think you can rely on him for the future.

Yes, I hope so. Cole is similarly good and Procter has been fantastic too!

[KGKOOLKAT777]

We now play another County Championship match away to Sussex.

With very cloudy conditions and a pitch tailored to suit the seamers, we've gone with an all pace attack.
Ideally, I'd have gone in with Matthew, Murtagh, Onions and Tahir, but I've given some technique training to medium pacer Steffan Piolet and I'd like to try him out. Onions is the unlucky one to miss out due to that decision.
Due to Dominic Cole being out injured, Fabian Cowdrey comes back into the playing eleven ahead of Eric Beckett.

Egan looks like an exciting prospect. I think you can rely on him for the future.

[GrahamB]

We now play another County Championship match away to Sussex.

With very cloudy conditions and a pitch tailored to suit the seamers, we've gone with an all pace attack.
Ideally, I'd have gone in with Matthew, Murtagh, Onions and Tahir, but I've given some technique training to medium pacer Steffan Piolet and I'd like to try him out. Onions is the unlucky one to miss out due to that decision.
Due to Dominic Cole being out injured, Fabian Cowdrey comes back into the playing eleven ahead of Eric Beckett.

[GrahamB]

GLAMORGAN v KENT (County Championship D2 2014)

Batting first, we lost Key and Cole to the new ball and were looking shaky at 16/2.
Naylor and Egan steadied things, adding 98 for the third wicket before Naylor was cleaned out by Wagg for 38.
Egan found another useful ally in Procter and at 190/3, all was well.
However, when Egan was judged lbw to Harris for 84 and Blake edged the next ball into the slips cordon, the pendulum had swung in the home side's favour.
Procter (57) and Ambrose (31) took us through to 240/5, but after both fell in quick succession, the tail offered little resistance and we were all out for a disappointing 269.
Harris (4/63), Tanvir (4/77) and Wagg (2/37) shared the wickets between them.

A splendid bowling effort from our bowlers made amends for our disappointing first innings total though, as we rolled Glamorgan for just 183 all out!
Murtagh (4/53), Tredwell (3/37) and Riley (2/36) all bowled wonderfully well.

The pitch was now giving uneven bounce and taking sharp turn. This cost us dearly as a nasty ball from Sidebottom rose sharply from a length to smash into Cole's arm, forcing the batsman to retire hurt. X-rays would later reveal a fracture that is expected to keep Cole out of action for the next month!
Scoring was difficult, but thanks to Naylor (51), Egan (34), Procter (40), Ambrose (59no) and Murtagh (30), we scored 284 all out.
Harris (3/71) was the most impressive of the Glamorgan bowlers, while Sidebottom (2/56) was awkward.

Glamorgan needed 371 to win and we expected them to give it a go, but once they were 130/3 and with the spinners operating, the scoring slowed down and the only winning chances were ours.
However, Tom Fielding (86) and Danny King (70no) proved very stubborn as they guided their side through to safety at 261/5.
Disappointingly, our spinners only claimed one wicket and it was Tim Murtagh (2/47) who finished with the best figures.



Our sixth draw on the trot. Still ten games left though and I expect we'll improve.
But the loss of Cole leaves our batting stocks tight and we can ill afford another injury or any England call ups.

[GrahamB]

Our travels continue with a County Championship match away to Glamorgan.

With the pitch there expected to favour spin, we've gone in with both Tredwell and Riley again.

[GrahamB]

News

Our first choice keeper, Ben Brown, has picked up an injury and will be out of action for three weeks.
Tim Ambrose gets a chance now to show that he's been hard done by.

[GrahamB]

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE v KENT (Challenge Trophy 2014)

We won the toss and decided to bat first, hoping to take advantage of the turning conditions likely to eventuate later.
As I wasn't totally confident that our bowling attack could defend anything less than 220+, we went onto the offensive from the start.
Key (67) and Cole (54) set up a nice platform after Naylor had fallen cheaply. Then Procter (32) and the lower order helped get us through to 237/7.

Our two pace spearheads, Matthew and Murtagh, struggled to look threatening and so as soon as the fielding restrictions were gone, we brought on the spinners.
Any fears that I'd had about young Adam Riley quickly disappeared as he claimed a wicket in his first over. In fact, it was Riley who got us back on track as he dismissed the next two batsmen as well to have the home side at 101/4.
Tredwell was proving a useful foil at the other end, prompting me to risk bringing Egan on at a time when Procter was being dealt to by the batsmen. And what a master stroke that proved to be, as he also sent three batsmen on their way to close out the match!
Egan (3/26 off 5.1 overs), Riley (3/39 off 8) and Tredwell (2/36 off 8) had done the trick for us.



So two from two in the Challenge Trophy so far!

[GrahamB]

Still on the road for another Challenge Trophy match, this time at Northamptonshire.
I selected the team thinking that it was a four day match, so fingers crossed!

[GrahamB]

DERBYSHIRE v KENT (Challenge Trophy 2014)

This game was a close run thing.

Derbyshire came out swinging from the start.
Borrington (45), Cox (61) and Hughes (36) provided the bulk of the runs, and it was only a collapse from 184/5 onwards that saw us restrict them to 199/9.
Tredwell (3/42) was our best bowler, but Matthew also impressed with a tight spell of 1/30.

We struggled to keep up with the required rate and that, coupled with the regular loss of wickets saw us in real trouble at 84/5.
Blake (42) helped steady the ship and then Brown (54no) and Tredwell (41no) powered us home as they scored at over 7 runs per over in the last ten overs.

Too close for comfort, but a win's a win.

[GrahamB]

On the plus side, these draws do mean you've remained undefeated in the competiton!

True!