Kent v Essex
The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Two-Day Friendly
Team News:
Kent: Daniel Bell-Drummond (c), Heino Kuhn, Jordan Cox, Jack Leaning, Ollie Robinson (wk), Marcus O’Riordan, Darren Stevens, Grant Stewart, Matt Milnes, Harry Podmore, Hamidullah Qadri, Ivan Thomas, Tim Groenewald.
Essex: Alastair Cook, Nick Browne, Tom Westley (c), Varun Chopra, Dan Lawrence, Feroze Khushi, Ryan ten Doeschate, Adam Wheater (wk), Aron Nijjar, Aaron Beard, Jamie Porter, Sam Cook, Matt Quinn, Ben Allison, Shane Snater.
Match Details:
Umpires: Nigel Llong & James Tredwell
Match Referee: Peter Such
Toss Won By: Essex, who elected to bowl
Match Result:
Kent: 258
Essex: 314-8 dec
Result: Match Drawn
Day Two Report:
In reply to the Kent total of 258 made on the first day, Essex reached 314 for 8 declared by the conclusion of the two-day warm-up match at Canterbury.
The visitors would have been highly satisfied with the performances of Dan Lawrence and Ryan ten Doeschate who both retired not out having struck half-centuries, but Nick Browne and Tom Westley were both dismissed twice in the day.
Alastair Cook also enjoyed a double visit to the middle after his first innings ended for a duck when Harry Podmore surprised the former England captain with extra bounce and was able to complete a comfortable return catch. He did however prosper when making a return trip to the action.
Lawrence and ten Doeschate both batted superbly, timing the ball well and finding the boundary regularly through well-placed shots on either side of the crease. Lawrence, who is on the cusp of England international call up, underlined his claims with a 62 ball half-century that included one 6 and 8 fours. He eventually retired with his score on 63 before ten Doeschate arrived to continue Lawrence’s domination of the bowling.
His 83-ball half-century arrived with a straight-driven 6 off Darren Stevens and also included 7 fours in a typically positive approach with a number of scampered singles before retiring at tea with when he had taken his contribution 58 in a two-hour stay at the crease.
By that time Essex had lost five wickets in reaching 227 from 56 overs but 15 overs and three wickets later, a single by Aaron Beard took them past the Kent total.
Yet the visitors had made an awful start losing Browne to the second ball of the day after he had opened his account with the boundary against Podmore before clipping the next ball to gully. Then with the last ball of his over, Podmore removed Cook to leave Essex 5 for 2.
Wesley scored 14 before he was leg before to Stevens leaving Lawrence and Varun Chopra to revive the innings with a partnership of 94 before Tim Groenewald had Chopra picked up in the gully for a well-composed 30.
Whilst Lawrence starred with the bat before lunch, it was left to ten Doeschate and Adam Wheater to control affairs in the afternoon with a stand of 76 before Wheater was run out for 28.
Immediately after tea, Browne came out to join Feroze Khushi but the left-hander, looking to get off the mark, was soon back in the Pavilion again when he edged a ball to the wicket-keeper. He was replaced by Cook who took 15 balls to get his score moving. Khushi had moved onto a comfortable 15 when he was cleaned out by Matt Milnes to earn the bowler his second wicket of the session.
That departure allowed Wesley an opportunity of a further look at the attack he will be facing on Saturday in the Bob Willis Trophy opening game of the season but having got off the mark with a boundary, he then produced an expansive intended fierce pull when facing Marcus O’Riordan and lost his middle stump.
Cook though took full opportunity second time around facing 79 balls to reach an unbeaten 52 whilst Beard was 28 not out when the match concluded, the pair having composed an unbroken 61 runs in 17 overs.
Day One Report:
Jamie Porter proved the most successful member of the Essex attack as the visitor’s bowlers enjoyed a good work out on the opening day of the two-day friendly with Kent at Canterbury ahead of the opening Bob Willis Trophy encounter against the same opponents at The Cloudfm Ground, Chelmsford starting on Saturday.
The right-arm paceman picked up three leading wickets in 10 balls and went on to complete the day with figures of 10-2-44-4 as the home side were bowled out for 258 in 77.1 overs.
The pre-math agreement was that both teams would utilise a squad system allowing each side to bat for a day with batsmen able to bat twice if desired.
The home total owed much to a fine innings by 21 year-old Ollie Robinson who made 103 from 144 balls that included 19 boundaries, before he retired not out with the total on 226 for 7.
He received chief support from Jordan Cox who was educated at Felsted School, as the pair posted 97 for the fourth wicket before Porter started his incisive spell. Nineteen year-old Cox, having reached 52 with 10 fours, inside-edged the ball onto his stumps and then seven balls later, Porter found a superb delivery that breached Marcus O’Riordan’s defences. Finally, he had Darren Stevens caught at first slip by Alastair Cook for a second ball duck to leave the home side 151 for 5.
Earlier, Porter had found the breakthrough in the Kent innings when Varun Chopra at second slip dived low to his right to claim Heino Kuhn for 11.
The same fielder also took another excellent catch when Aaron Beard produced a delivery that found the edge and Chopra dived in front of first slip to send Daniel Bell-Drummond on his way for 19.
Beard collected his second wicket of the innings on his way to figures of 2 for 39 from 10 overs when Grant Stewart failed to pick the line was leg before wicket for seven.
Matt Quinn had Jack Leaning, Kent’s winter signing from Yorkshire, caught for a single by wicket-keeper Adam Wheater who also got his name on the card with two further dismissals, a regulation stumping of Matt Milnes when Aron Nijjar brought the batsman down the wicket and a catch off Harry Podmore to give Ben Allison a wicket.
With the fall of the ninth wicket, Heino Kuhn entered the fray for the second time but could not prevent Ryan ten Doeschate becoming the sixth of the eight bowlers utilised to gain a victim when he brought the day’s proceedings by trapping the batsman in front of his stumps for 15.
The one notable absentee from the squad who travelled to Canterbury is Simon Harmer who sits out the match as a precautionary measure on an injury picked up in training last week.
Day Two begins at 11am on Tuesday and clips, statistic and the scorecard are available via the Essex Cricket Matchzone – here.
