Coles heroics with the bat prove in vain

Matt Coles was left frustrated after Kent suffered their second defeat in three Royal London OneDay Cup matches when they went down by five wickets against Essex at Chelmsford last Wednesday. A brilliant innings of 91 off 52 balls from Coles, who was ably supported by James Tredwell (47 not out) in an eighth-wicket stand of 140, helped Kent recover from 135-7 to 285-8. However, half-centuries from New Zealander Jesse Ryder and former England man Ravi Bopara, plus 49 from opener Nick Browne, eased the home side to their target with five balls to spare to give them first blood in the annual Battle of the Bridge. However, Coles felt the total should have been enough to earn Kent victory at Chelmsford. He said: “I think we should have been able to defend that total. “We knew it was going to be tight. Fabian Cowdrey bowled very well for us, and so did James Tredwell. “I thought we started very well. But we ended up giving away 23 extras and that’s not brilliant.” DJ Bell-Drummond b Quinn ..............28 JL Denly b Quinn ..............................28 SA Northeast b Quinn........................19 FK Cowdrey st Foster b Ashar Zaidi .....4 SW Billings st Foster b Ashar Zaidi ....14 AJ Blake run out ...............................14 DI Stevens c Browne b Ashar Zaidi....21 MT Coles b ten Doeschate ................91 JC Tredwell not out ...........................47 ME Claydon not out .............................8 Extras (lb 3, w 8)...............................11 Essex ............... 4 Glamorgan ....... 4 Somerset ......... 4 Kent................. 4 Middlesex ........ 4 Hampshire ....... 4 Surrey.............. 4 Gloucester ....... 4 Sussex............. 4