Dickson enjoys trip downmemory lane
Mark Pennell on the family links that inspired a record Kent individual innings and county total
Kent opener Sean Dickson re-wrote the county’s batting record books following his eight-hour marathon knock of 318 at Worsley Bridge Road – a ground that the 25-year-old right-hander holds surprisingly dear.
Though born in South Africa’s Transvaal, Dickson holds a UK passport courtesy of his English mother, Pat, who originally hails from Beckenham.
Dickson explained: “My mum came over here from South Africa on holiday last year and showed me the street near here in Beckenham where she lived as a child. She dropped me a text when she saw I had scored a double hundred saying she had burst into tears when hearing the news. So, it’s brilliant for me to do this here, on this ground.
“It’s just overwhelming to achieve this sort of thing at this stage of my career. This is only my second full season in first-class cricket and, in some ways, I really don’t know how I did it. I’m excited to see what is to come now, and hopefully I can get the chance to beat Kent’s highest score [332 by Bill Ashdown v Essex in Brentwood, 1934] another time!”
Indeed Dickson, who shared a hotel room with Adam Rouse in nearby by Bromley throughout the game, had predicted his run glut on the eve of the match. Rouse said: “We’d had our dinner and went up and checked into the room when Dicko turned around and said to me, ‘there’s runs in this room Rousey, I can feel it!’”
Dickson added: “I scored a hundred for my club in the Kent League on Sunday so it’s been a magical week. It might all hit me in a week or so’s time, but it’s great to get a triple hundred and it was more a mental thing than a physical fitness situation out there.”
Ben Duckett, who scored a sublime double century at this venue last year, described his latest 159-ball innings of 105 here as one of his best, given the examination set by Yasir Shah, bowling into the bowlers’ rough.
“I think that’s the toughest hundred I’ve scored to date,” said the Northants left-hander. “I was very tired after all that fielding but I felt I had a good gameplan against the Kent bowlers and Yasir and you could see what that hundred meant to me by the way I celebrated it.”
Duckett’s efforts, coupled with Max Holden’s career-best 153 and a season’s best 112 from Adam Rossington ensured Northants avoided batting again as they conceded a modest lead of 133. Dickson and Denly, inevitably, added 50s as the game then drifted to a predictable draw.