Brown praise for ‘fantastic’ Kent
Bruce Talbot watches Sam Northeast’s men make a huge statement with victory over Sussex
Kent captain Sam Northeast believes his side are equipped for the challenge of competing in the strongest Division Two he’s seen since they were relegated in 2010.
Northeast led from the front with an unbeaten 173 as his side beat Sussex by 226 runs at Hove in an early meeting of two teams likely to challenge alongside Notts for the promotion places.
It was a performance that was labelled “fantastic” by Sussex vice-captain Ben Brown.
Having trounced Gloucestershire by an innings in their opening game, Kent will be confident of making it three straight wins when Derbyshire arrive in Canterbury. But Northeast knows stern tests lie ahead. “We played really good cricket last year when we finished second but only one went up and I think we’ve gone up a notch this year and that’s good to see,” he said.
“There is not much more I can ask from the guys at the moment.You are never going to produce the perfect performance so we need to keep doing our jobs well because there will be times when we’ll be challenged.
“Division Two is really tough this season, the strongest it’s been for years. We have had to play well to beat a really good Sussex side.You’ve obviously got the likes of Notts and Durham who came down and others, like Worcestershire and Northants, who have started strongly.
“But we’ve started well and have the opportunity to build on that against Derbyshire, although we know we’ll have to play as well as we did at Hove against them.”
Sussex vice-captain Brown held up Kent with half-centuries in both innings but Sussex had no answer to a golden arm spell from 40-year-old all-rounder Darren Stevens, who took four wickets in 25 deliveries the day before the 20th anniversary of his first-class debut.
Brown, who made 90 and an unbeaten 69, said: “You have to give credit to the opposition sometimes, I thought Kent were fantastic. They are an improving side with a very strong seam attack but we took a backward step in the last two days.
“We can’t reflect on it too long, though. We have a big game against Notts at Trent Bridge this weekend and we have to stand toe to toe with them, we have to get into the battle.”