Claydon welcomes Gidman’s input
MITCH Claydon is enjoying a County Championship renaissance in Kent colours this season, and after making an immediate impact with the Spitfires he is certain Nottinghamshire loanee Will Gidman can do the same.
The 33-year-old Australian has already bowled almost twice the number of first-class overs this term as he did last year, taking an impressive 38 red-ball wickets to date versus just 13 in 2015.
And with Kent still pushing Division Two leaders Essex for promotion, Claydon insists former Gloucestershire star Gidman came in at the perfect time after he claimed three wickets and notched an unbeaten 75 in last week’s tenwicket win over Worcestershire.
“Will’s been great,” he said.“He was up in Durham with me for four years, and he’s injected the energy every side needs at this time of the season. He’s come in frustrated having not played any cricket for Notts, and showed his class straight away with runs and wickets.
“Any time you pick up an injury it gives someone else an opportunity, and if they take that then you can end up waiting for something to happen to another person.
“He’s been doing all right in the second team, but coming down here will give him that opportunity – like when I went on loan from Durham to Kent, and I haven’t looked back. Hopefully, he can do the same.”
Claydon took his second five-for of this campaign in that comprehensive win at Canterbury, and while he is the first to admit he is targeting a 50-wicket season, he would much rather Kent turn up the heat on Essex.
He added:“They have a commanding lead but we’re in with a chance.
“We’ve been brilliant in all forms the last six weeks so hopefully we can put pressure on Essex – we play them in the last game, so if we win two of our next three matches that could be a big showdown.
“When we played them earlier in the season we had a really bad morning on day one, but we managed to fight until late on day four which is something we’ll take massive heart from.
“With a month to go in the season we’re still challenging, so it’s exciting times.”