Greenway tops poll for England
Kent batsman Alex Blake has signed a contract extension, ending speculation surrounding a move to Sussex.
Blake agreed a new deal after scoring more than 500 runs in 20 white-ball innings this summer, including more than 200 at an average of 50 in Kent’s run to the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-finals.
The 26-year-old, who came through the Kent Academy, joins captain Sam Northeast, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Matt Coles in committing his future to his home county.
Blake said: “I’ve played at Kent for my whole career, so it was an easy decision to stay.
“The reaction to my performances this season has been flattering and shows people are taking notice of what I’ve done this summer.
“It’s an exciting time for the club and I wanted to repay the faith shown in me.
“It’s been a good campaign in white-ball cricket and we’ll be looking to learn from it and go one or two steps further next year.”
Coles, meanwhile, had his sights set on celebrating his 100th wicket of the season in Kent’s clash with Glamorgan at Cardiff this week.
Four wickets in last week’s draw at home to champions Lancashire took Coles to 61 scalps in 12 matches in LV= County Championship, Division 2 with a further 16 in eight Royal London One-Day Cup appearances and 17 in 13 NatWest T20 Blast games.
Coles said: “Hopefully, getting to 100 is something I can do in this game. I have been aware for the past three or four weeks that I was getting there, since I got to 75 or 80.
“Last week was a bit of a struggle but I managed to hang in there and I’m on 94 now – hopefully I’ll be able to get four big days of bowling across these last two games and we can finish on a high and (I can) make the 100.”
The 25-year- old, a former England Lions player, has been a picture of consistency this season after returning from an 18-month stint at Hampshire – a spell which he says was the foundation of his success this summer.
He admitted: “The year away at Hampshire has probably been the best thing for my career.
“I learned a lot about my game and playing on a flat pitch like that you have to develop your skills to pick up wickets.
“I’ve come back home and managed to use those skills on the slope at Canterbury and it’s gone well. It’s nice to be here and settled enjoying some success.”
1-72, 2-221, 3-224, 4-257, 5-315, 6-498,7-511, 8-548. Bowling: G Chapple 33-5-126-0, TJ Lester 23-3-99-0, TE Bailey 28-489-2, J Clark 30-6-87-3, SC Kerrigan 19-1-95-2, SJ Croft 14-0-51-1. KR Brown c Harmison b Coles ...........53 H Hameed c Tredwell b Stevens........14 AN Petersen lbw b Stevens .................0 AG Prince c Davies b Hunn................17 SJ Croft lbw b Coles .........................85 AL Davies b Coles ...............................4 J Clark c Tredwell b Haggett .............44 TE Bailey b Tredwell .........................18 G Chapple c Hunn b Haggett ...............8 SC Kerrigan c Davies b Hunn ..............2 TJ Lester not out.................................0 Extras (b4, lb4, w2,nb4) ....................14 Fall: 1-42, 2-46, 3-76, 4-97, 5-101, 6-192, 7-227, 8-242, 9-259, 10-259. Bowling: MT Coles 22.1-4-75-3, MD Hunn 22-8-47-2, DI Stevens 17-4-512, CJ Haggett 15-1-44-2, JC Tredwell 11-3-34-1. KR Brown lbw b Coles.........................0 H Hameed b Haggett .........................44 AN Petersen b Tredwell.....................28 AG Prince lbw b Stevens ...................39 SJ Croft not out.................................72 AL Davies not out ..............................58 Extras (b5, lb7, w3, nb2) ...................17 Fall: 1-0, 2-47, 3-109, 4-138. Bowling: MT Coles 23-7-67-1, MD Hunn 17-2-57-0, DI Stevens 19-4-571, CJ Haggett 18-5-41-1, JC Tredwell 20-12-17-1, JL Denly 5-2-7-0.
NL Bainton & GD Lloyd
Kent 12, Lancashire 8
PW L D Ps Surrey............... 14 8 1 5 239 Lancashire ........ 14 7 1 6 234 Northants.......... 14 3 3 8 162 Gloucestershire . 14 5 5 4 159 Glamorgan ........ 13 4 3 6 158 Essex ................ 13 4 5 4 146 Derbyshire ........ 14 3 6 5 139 Kent.................. 14 3 7 4 134 Leicestershire*.. 14 2 8 4 105 *Leicestershire deducted 16 points
REMAINING FIXTURES LV= County Championship Division 2: started Wednesday, September 9: Glamorgan v Kent (at Cardiff). LV= County Championship Division 2: Monday, September 14: Kent v Gloucestershire (at Canterbury). Kent’s Lydia Greenway came out on top in a poll of fans to decide the England Supporters’ Player of the Women’s Ashes series. She received more than 57% of the votes on the CricketHer website after scoring 202 runs and taking four catches against Australia this summer. Having won the opening one-day international in the points-based Ashes series, England then lost the other two 50-over games and were also beaten in the one Test match which was worth four points to Australia. Needing to win all three of the T20 matches, England won the first and third but were beaten at Hove in the second.