Another big win keeps Kent in the hunt

Kent kept up the pressure on Essex by wrapping up a convincing victory by an innings and 127 runs over Sussex in the Specsavers County Championship last Thursday.

Their first Championship win at Hove since 1992 briefly moved Kent level on points at the top with Essex. But Essex regained the advantage by completing their own innings victory against Worcestershire.

Kent made a blistering start on the opening day, reducing the hosts to 9-3 and then 70-6 with only skipper Ben Brown (54) offering much resistance.

Ollie Robinson (32) hit seven fours against his home county and Ajmal Shahzad added a late 26 but the hosts were ousted for 180 in just 40 overs.

Hardus Viljoen claimed 3-70 with two wickets apiece from Matt Coles, Darren Stevens and Mitch Claydon.

The visitors turned the screw over the following day by amassing an imposing 496 and maximum batting points.

Joe Denly made 48, Sam Northeast 44 and Sam Billings 64 before Stevens (74) shared 100 for the sixth wicket with Will Gidman.

The Nottinghamshire loanee then added 115 for the eighth wicket with Coles (70) before he was eventually left stranded on 99 not out when last man Claydon went for 11.

Gidman said: “It was a bit unfortunate not to get to a hundred.

“Mitch Claydon did his best and I should probably have had a whack earlier on but I was pleased with the innings.

“It would have been nice to get over the Mitch Claydon – five wickets in the match, while Joe Denly hit 48 line but it wasn’t to be.”

Kent’s first innings lead of 316 never looked in trouble as the hosts slipped from 39-0 to 87-4 and although Craig Cachopa made 34, the wickets continued to fall and Sussex were bowled out for 189 just before lunch on the third day.

Viljoen added 3-34 to make his match haul 6-104, while Claydon took 3-41 and Coles 3-72. Skipper Northeast said: “It was a good performance. We are playing some good cricket at the moment and to come to Sussex and beat what is still a pretty decent side is fantastic.

“It was a result pitch and we bowled fantastically well. We banged out a consistent length throughout and when we batted, everyone contributed to get us to nearly 500 which is a great effort on that wicket.

“The work ethic has been brilliant for a while now because we have come across

‘The work ethic has been brilliant for a while now. . . Everyone is contributing’

some flat pitches this season. Everyone is contributing. We have won three in a row and it does make the last few weeks interesting.

“We are getting our rewards for the hard work we’ve put in and this was as near a perfect performance as you’re going to see.

“We are going to need to win our last two to put pressure on Essex.

“We need to keep producing the aggressive brand of cricket we’ve been playing and if we can do that it would be great to go into the last game against them knowing that if we win we’ll be promoted.”