Battling draw could prove crucial

1-6, 2-16, 3-29, 4- 49, 5-55, 6- 63, 7-116, 8-123, 9-236, 10-236

C Rushworth 21-3- 69-3, BJ McCarthy 19.3-2- 63- 6, MJ Potts 12-3-33- 0, GT Main 7- 0-47-1, PD Collingwood 5-1-9- 0. SC Cook c Rouse b Claydon ..............44 KK Jennings lbw b Stevens .................0 CT Steel c Yasir Shah b Coles............43 G Clark b Yasir Shah .........................83 PD Collingwood not out .....................51 RD Pringle st Rouse b Denly................8 SW Poynter c Gidman b Yasir Shah .....4 MJ Potts not out ...............................14 Extras (b10, lb6, w2, nb6) .................24 Head coach Matt Walker hailed his side’s resilience after they claimed potentially vital championship points against the odds on Sunday night.

Kent staved off the threat of a first defeat of the Specsavers Championship Division 2 season with a gritty effort, batting 106 overs to save their game against Durham at Canterbury.

The relegated side looked odds-on to pick up their first win in the final session, with Kent down to their final two wickets with 17 overs remaining, having given up a first innings deficit of 212 runs.

Skipper Sam Northeast was the main reason the game lasted as long as it did as he compiled gritty knocks of 109 not out in the first innings and then a stoic 72, eventually becoming the eighth man to fall, just over an hour before the scheduled close.

Somehow, Matt Coles (30) and Yasir Shah (39 not out) negotiated a 61-ball spell before Mitch Claydon came in to join Yasir and see his side to the line against his former club with a run-a-ball 21.

Walker said: “We were nervous because the odds were against us.

“Yasir played beautifully for us and manufactured things nicely to try and get as much as the strike as he could and Mitch did his bit, too.

“He’s not renowned for his batting is our Mitch but it was a great effort.”

Walker added: “They (Durham) bowled well and kept the pressure up but this shows the fighting spirit we have in the camp now.

“We’re showing this more often now. We’ve gritted our teeth and scrapped hard to get something out of the game.

“It’s five extra points and who knows how much they’ll be worth to us come the end of the season?”

The draw earned secondplaced Kent eight points which kept t hem eight ahead of Worcestershire in third and 16 behind Nottinghamshire, who drew with Gloucestershire in a game which finished on Monday.

Kent travel to Worcestershire on Monday.