KENT NEED TO IMPRESS IN PROMOTION PUSH

Darren Stevens. But they allowed their commanding position to slip away as the visitors posted 350 in their first innings on day two, having been 174-8 at one stage on the opening day.

Northeast then fell just three runs short of a century as Kent replied with 333 which included 46 for Stevens.

Imran Qayyum (39) just failed to 100th First Class appearance and 50th for Kent when they took on his former club Durham.

The Australian-born 34-year-old has been at Kent for more than four years and established himself in all formats having enjoyed a two-year stint at Yorkshire and then a seven-year stay at the Riverside, where he struggled to cement a first-team place.

He said: “If you’d have told me at the age of 22 that I’d play 100 first class matches, I’d have bitten your hand off.

“I had a few injuries when I was at Yorkshire and I didn’t play as much as I’d like at Durham but the bowling line-up was so strong if you played eight or 10 games a year you’d done well.”

Before this week’s game, Claydon had taken a total of 268 First Class wickets with 142 of them coming for Kent, where he has adopted the role of mentor to the young crop of seamers.

He said: “As one of the older players, I like to help out the younger guys in the squad where I can.

“It’s tough bowling in first class cricket so you need plenty of options so you can pick an attack according to the conditions.”