Second XI County Championship
St. Lawrence Ground, Canterbury
Monday 24 April – Thursday 27 April 2023
Essex Second XI: Josh Rymell, Feroze Khushi, Robin Das, Luc Benkenstein, Will Buttleman (wk), Aron Nijjar (c), Ronnie McKenna, Aaron Beard, Eshun Kalley, Naivedyam Dwivedi, Chinmay Mullapudi, Alex Gosling.
Kent Second XI: Marcus O’Riordan (c), Harry Finch (wk), Tawanda Muyeye, George Linde, Jadyn Denly, Tom Hinley, Benjamin Aldred, James Logan, Frederick Klaassen, Jaskaran Singh, Nathan Gilchrist, Arafat Bhuiyan.
Match Details:
Umpires: Jack Shantry & Paul Witney
Toss: Essex won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Match Drawn
Match Report:
Essex’s Second XI and their Kent counterparts provided another run-fest despite their Second XI County Championship encounter being severely affected by the weather.
With the first day washed out and prospects of further play appearing bleak, the decision was taken to switch the fixture from the Polo Sports Ground to Kent’s traditional St Lawrence Ground.
The venue had proved to be batter-friendly when the side’s First XI’s had met a week previously, with Essex Nick Browne and Tom Westly along with Kent’s Zak Crawley scoring impressive centuries. That (again) proved to be the case, with Robin Das, Feroze Khushi, Will Buttleman and Tawanda Muyeye achieving similar feats.
Das was in fine form for the visitors, scoring an unbeaten 116 off 207 balls during his 325-minutes in the middle.
Khushi and Aron Nijjar passed fifty, while Aaron Beard fell one short as Essex made up for lost time before declaring their innings on 301-6. George Linde was the pick of the Kent attack, returning bowling figures of 2/49 from his 17 overs.
Nevertheless, it was the home side who established a 25-run first-innings advantage. Muyeye’s 100 came off 92 balls, including fourteen 4s and three 6s. Linde was amongst the runs, scoring 87, while skipper Marcus O’Riordan chipped in with 59 before the Kent decoration. Alex Gosling took 3/22 from his three-over spell for the visitors.
Khushi continued his superb form with the bat. This time the talented 23-year-old scored 152 off just 164 balls during a 204-minute stint. His innings included no less than seventeen 4s and four 6s. Buttleman got in on the act, finishing unbeaten on 100.
Kent had reached 147/7 before the contest concluded as a draw. Harry Finch hit 52 while Essex’s Luc Benkenstein impressed with the ball, claiming 4/19 from his 6 overs.
