Kent give own rumble of thunder!
Kent kept up the pressure at the top of the Division Two table and Mark Pennell saw the action
Unbeaten Kent dodged a ‘superstorm the size of Wales’ and pre-match alarms over the Nevill Ground’s condition to complete their Division Two double over neighbours Sussex in Tunbridge Wells.
The 147-run victory, that maintained Kent’s grip on the shirttails of leaders Nottinghamshire, was just reward for the county club’s intervention earlier in May that ensured the council-owned ground was ultimately fit for purpose.
Barely two weeks before the fixture the Nevill’s square had been left sodden by a sudden downpour that had caught the local authority’s groundstaff by surprise. Alarmed by the issue, Kent sent their curators to intervene and their work, coupled with that of the host club’s volunteers – both on the pitch and to a threadbare outfield – enabled the 105th Tunbridge Wells’ Festival fixture to proceed.
Then, only the county’s continued vigilance prevented further disaster midway through the game when, during the early hours of Monday morning, myriad lightning strikes and thunder claps accompanied the depositing of four inches of rain across the region.
In the end, events all passed off fittingly in the Royal Spa Town. The rhododendrons were resplendent, the Band of Brothers took wine with the Kent committee and a determined performance by Sam Northeast’s side proved too good for a strangely jaded Sussex.
After doing his utmost to ride out a stern seam-bowling examination on the first morning, Joe Denly, Kent’s No. 3, blossomed to post his first century of the season and the sole hundred of the match.
Denly featured in useful stands along the way with Will Gidman, Darren Stevens, and Alex Rouse, who all made 40s to help Kent clinch four batting bonus points.
When Kent bowled, the ageless Stevens was again to the fore. The 41-year-old took five for 40 – his fourth five-wicket return of the campaign – and Sussex were skittled inside 50 overs as only David Wiese and Stiaan van Zyl limped into the 30s.
Kent opted against enforcing the followon, enabling Denly to add an unbeaten 71 to his first-innings’ 119, which, together with a season’s best 90 from Daniel Bell-Drummond, allowed Kent to declare, setting an unlikely victory target of 504.
At 73 for four there were few signs of Sussex resilience, but again van Zyl and Wiese showed more backbone than most. But once Michael Burgess, their top-scorer with 78, went lbw to Matt Coles, James Harris rushed in to sweep through the tail and secure victory with a session to spare.