Leaning will come good

Kent Cricket

Kent batsman Jack Leaning has been tipped to come good this summer by his former captain. Leaning ended a run of five single-digit scores in six innings by scoring 47 for Kent in last week’s rainaffected draw with Yorkshire at Headingley.

That poor run of form included a pair against his former county at Canterbury last month but Leaning showed positive signs at his former stomping ground. It did not go unnoticed by Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson, a close friend of Leaning, who won two Championship titles at Headingley in 2014 and 2015 before leaving for Canterbury at the end of 2019. “Jack played well, and we know he’s a good player,” said Patterson. “He’s played some great knocks for us in the past.

“What impressed me was that on the back of a pair against us at their place, it took him 29 balls here to get off the mark. But he never got flustered and waited for his opportunity to score. “When lads are your friends and you’ve played with them for a long time, like I have with Jack, all you want to see is them be successful. “We won a couple of Championships together and have all those wonderful memories.

“A change of scenery and a new opportunity will do wonders for him.

“He’s had a tough start to this year, but he got that big double hundred last year for Kent.

“I think the future will be bright for him there. If he continues to play like he did on day one here, he’ll score a lot of runs.” Leaning’s knock was one of a number of positives for Kent. Zak Crawley scored an attractive 90 while Nathan Gilchrist took 4-74 in only his second first-class game. Gilchrist will hope to build on that performance when Kent travel to Sussex from Thursday, and believes the team have shown plenty of character after a poor start to the campaign.

“It’s been good after a tough start to the season,” said 20-year-old Gilchirst. “We’ve shown some real character this week.

“If it wasn’t for the rain, we could have had a really positive week. There were some positive performances. Hopefully we can build on that going forwards.

“It’s only my second game, so I’m still trying to find my feet. But it’s very pleasing to get a few wickets.”