Milnes tipped to hit stride

Kent bowling coach Simon Cook is expecting Matt Milnes to come good again during the second half of the summer. Milnes had taken just 10 wickets in seven County Championship matches at an average nudging towards 70 going into this week’s clash with Northamptonshire at Canterbury.

It’s been a tough battle for Kent’s bowlers on largely flat wickets, but Milnes has never let his head drop and impressed with figures of 3-47 as Kent skittled out Northants for a below-par 303 on Monday. The 27-year-old will link up with Oval Invincibles for this year’s Hundred competition but he’ll still make a big impact for Kent over the fourday format, according to Cook. “He had a break and went away for a bit just to reset,” said Cook. “Most of the guys had three days off during the T20 quarter-final week to put that competition behind us and reset for a tough championship run-in. “Matt is very focused and motivated to put in some good performances towards the back end of the season. “We saw last year how his performances improved leading up to the Hundred and after that he got a stack load of wickets at the end of the year. “I’m expecting a load of good things from him going forward.”

Cook was pleased to see Kent’s bowlers put together an excellent effort in the field across the whole day against Northamptonshire, rather than just for a session or two. Every team had previously made at least 430 in their first innings against Kent, and Cook believes it was a case of finding more consistency. “I think the encouraging thing about this innings is that we’ve done it in stages throughout the season,” he reflected. “We’ve had good first sessions and good second sessions, but maybe the last session we’ve let it slip.” Kent travel to Warwickshire in the County Championship for a four-day game which starts on Tuesday.