Progress small consolation

Kent Cricket

Kent skipper Sam Northeast could not hide his disappointment at missing out on County Championship promotion in the penultimate game of the season.

Northeast saw his side slip to defeat inside three days against Northants at Beckenham last week before leaders Essex secured the six points they needed to secure the Division 2 title in this week’s game against Glamorgan at Chelmsford.

It left Kent’s final game, at home to Essex, at Canterbury from Tuesday (10.30am) as something of a deadrubber and Northeast admitted: “It’s disappointing. Everyone has put in a lot of work this season and we have nothing to show for it.

“To not be coming away with any silverware from a season is always disappointing, even if you feel you have clearly made strides and improvements.”

Kent went into their penultimate game seeking to close a 24-point gap in the race for the sole promotion place after three straight big wins and Northeast admitted: “We have played some good cricket, particularly in the past month or two.

“It’s just a shame we saved our worst performance of the season for probably our most crucial game so far.

“We weren’t quite at the races for a variety of reasons but I can’t fault our enthusiasm.

“If I’m honest, the guys looked a bit tired – like there was not a lot of gas left in the tank.

“We’ve been playing such high energy and intensity cricket for so long it was bound to happen at some stage.

“It’s just a shame it was then and we couldn’t wait for a couple more weeks.”

Kent were forced into a reshuffle with Sam Billings called up for an England T20 in Manchester – which he watched from the sidelines – and Northeast admitted: “That was one of the factors, he’d found form and it summed up his season a bit. He never really got a run of games due to one thing or another.”

Northeast claimed Essex were worthy champions and reflected: “We have played lots of good cricket and won three games back-to-back which is something to be proud of but Essex just kept on going and haven’t let themselves down. They deserve to go up.

“Despite winning, we weren’t able to ever get close to them or in front which was frustrating.”

He added: “We’d like to beat Essex and secure second. To beat the champions would be nice and show we are not far off. You always want to finish on a high and it would be especially nice to get one over on our neighbours.”

From the moment Northants skipper Alex Wakely went down the route of an uncontested toss to bowl first on an overcast opening day, Kent were outgunned with both bat and ball as they slipped to a 10-wicket defeat.

Sean Dickson (63) top scored in Kent’s first innings total of 230 with half-centuries also for Will Gidman (51) and Matt Coles (52).

Ben Duckett starred in Northants’ reply with a double century as they posted 384.

The 21-year-old opener, hit 208 – a Northants record against Kent – sharing a 171-run second-wicket stand with Wakely as they built a first-innings lead.

Kent’s second innings never got going and they soon found themselves 22-5.

Only nightwatchman Hardus Viljoen (63), Sam Billings (39) and Darren Stevens (44) showed any kind of resistance as they were all out for 184.

It left Northants only needing 31 runs to win, which they did with ease.

Sam Northeast