Close, Day Four: Kent (236 & 343/9; Northeast 109* & 72*) draw with Durham (448 & 271/6d; Collingwood 120 & 51*, Clark 83).
Durham fell one wicket short of claiming their first County Championship win of the season after a commanding performance at Canterbury ended in a draw.
Kent’s 10th wicket partners Yasir Shah and Mitch Claydon saw out the final 46 balls of the match to secure a thrilling Specsavers County Championship draw with Durham in Canterbury.
Shah, on his home debut, batted for 81 minutes while last man Claydon – a former Durham player – combined to deny Paul Collingwood’s side their first win and clinch a battling draw.
Required to bat all day to maintain their unbeaten status in the division, Kent lost three wickets in each of the opening two sessions leave the door ajar for a Durham win.
The hosts first blow came to the 20th delivery of the day when, in aiming an expansive drive against Barry McCarthy, opener Daniel Bell-Drummond only succeeded in dragging the ball onto his middle stump to slope off with only 17 to his name.
After helping to add 76 in 17.5 overs for the second wicket Joe Denly departed for 45 to the deserving Gavin Main. Denly had scored his ninth boundary by edging Main through the cordon to the ropes at third man but, without addition, Denly pushed at one with an open bat face only to steer the ball into the hands of Paul Collingwood at slip.
Durham bagged their third wicket of the session with 117 on the board when Sean Dickson, four short of his 50, drove a firm return chance to the bowler Keaton Jennings who accepted the catch with glee.
After lunch Sam Northeast and Joe Weatherley dug in for 26.3 overs in adding 63 for the fourth wicket before Weatherley, the Hampshire loanee, departed for his fourth successive championship score in the 30s.
Defending on the back foot, the 20-year-old was undone by low bounce as one from Gavin Main kept low to pluck out his off stump. Darren Stevens came in to scratch around for 16 minutes without getting off the mark before he pushed at a Ryan Pringle delivery to be caught behind by Stuart Poynter stood up to the stumps.
Poynter was celebrating 10 runs later when Chris Rushworth’s reintroduction at the Nackington Road End accounted for Will Gidman for the second time in the match. The Durham bowler, attacking from around the wicket, ran one away from the left-hander who feathered though to the keeper to go for three.
Early in the final session and fresh from his unbeaten century in the first innings, Northeast emulated his Durham counterpart Paul Collingwood by notching a second innings half-century from 108-ball and with five fours.
Collingwood’s bowling changes continued to work wonders and the fourth wicket in succession fell in the first over of a new stint. At 4.30pm Collingwood claimed the second new ball, tossed is to his attack leader Chris Rushworth and was rewarded with the wicket of Adam Rouse with the second delivery.
Playing back in defence Rouse (23) was adjudged lbw by umpire Steve Garrett although it appeared that the Durham cordon had initially appealed for a catch at the wicket. Rushworth landed another hammer blow by ending Northeast’s 229-minute vigil for 72.
The Kent skipper, who hit an unbeaten 109 in the first innings, missed out when aiming to leg and Garrett again raised the finger, much to Northeast’s obvious displeasure. Matt Coles, not known for his stoical batting, then joined forces with debutant Yasir Shah to take Kent into the last hour on 271 for eight.
The ninth-wicket pair won their first battle in seeing off Rushworth who, after giving his all for 25 overs in a spell of three for 62, hobbled off for treatment to a stiff back. Shah, working on the ‘attack is the best form of defence’ principle, unfurled a series of wristy flicks, cuts and drives to hit the ropes on five occasions before his partner Coles departed with under eight overs remaining. Poking in defence at a shooting delivery the left-hander went for lbw for 30 to give Matthew Potts, the 18-year-old Durham Academy graduate, his maiden championship wicket on his first team debut.
It came down to the final over from Potts who bowled the final delivery of the match to Shah with six slips, two gulleys and a short leg. The Pakistan all-rounder denied his fellow debutant, however, and the cheers were Kentish as the hosts maintained their push for promotion. Kent banked 8 points to Durham’s 12.
Close, Day Three: Kent (211/8; Northeast 97*& & 35/0) trail Durham (448; Collingwood 120, Pringle 71, Rushworth 57 & 271/6d; Clark 83, Collingwood 51*) by 449 runs
Durham are perfectly set to claim their first Division Two win of the season after setting Kent a target of 483 following another excellent batting performance today.
Having been set the mammoth target in a minimum of 90 overs, Kent started their second innings just after 5.30pm and went in unscathed at stumps on 35 for nought – still needing 449 for an unlikely win. Openers Daniel Bell-Drummond (17*) and Sean Dickson (16*) escaped the 30-minute examination without alarm despite a pitch that is waring and beginning to show signs of variable bounce.
Kent had started the day hanging on grimly in their first innings with skipper Sam Northeast leading their fight to avoid the follow-on. However, Paul Collingwood’s side needed only 12 overs and 50 minutes’ play to mop up Kent’s two remaining first-inning’s wickets and secure a 212-run lead.
Barry McCarthy polished the job off by having Yasir Shah caught behind by a tumbling Stuart Poynter for 48 and then, with his next delivery, snaring Mitchell Claydon lbw with the home score on 236.
Debutant Shah featured in a ninth-wicket stand worth 113 in 34.2 overs with his new captain Northeast, who was left unbeaten on 109 after posting his 18th first-class hundred from 162 balls and with 13 fours.
McCarthy finished with a career-best 6-63, while Chris Rushworth bagged three for 69 in a much-improved Durham bowling performance. Batting again before noon and after deciding not to enforce the follow-on, Durham suffered a near immediate blow with the loss of left-handed opener Keaton Jennings. Prodding half-forward and inside the line of Darren Stevens’ first delivery, an off-cutter, the ball thudded into the right pad forcing umpire Jeff Evans to raise his finger.
Stephen Cook needed a stroke of luck to survive with his score on 25. Driving loosely at one from Will Gidman he watched as Matt Coles, at second slip, dropped a tough chance diving in front of first slip.
After lunch, Durham continued at a surprisingly sedate pace, adding 100 in the mid-session for the loss of Stephen Cook who, with his score on 44, fenced at one from Claydon to edge to the keeper. Kent’s short-leg fielder Dickson went off for treatment just before tea when Graham Clark’s full-blooded sweep against Yasir Shah struck him a fearful blow at the back of his neck and immediately drew blood.
Thankfully, the South Africa-born player emerged after the interval to take up a fielding spot on the ropes as Durham started to increase their run rate. Cameron Steel miscued a hook against Coles to hole out to mid-wicket, then Clark, after reaching an 81-ball 50, was bowled around his legs by Shah.
In the quest for quicker runs Ryan Pringle was stumped off the bowling of Joe Denly and Stuart Poynter holed out to deep square leg to gift Yasir Shah his second scalp of the innings. Paul Collingwood upped the tempo further with a 49-ball, unbeaten 50 that took his side to 271 for six before his declaration with 10 overs remaining in the day.
Barry McCarthy bagged season’s best figures to blow away Kent’s top order after milestones with the bat for Paul Collingwood & Chris Rushworth at Canterbury.
Responding to Durham’s 448 all out, promotion-chasing Kent slid to 123/8 only to be salvaged by Sam Northeast’s unbeaten 97 that took his side in at stumps on 211/8.
Yet the hosts still require another 88 runs on day three to be spared the follow on for the first time in 2017.
Having batted for more than four sessions, Durham set about taking six Kent wickets during a 90-minute purple patch that sent the hosts reeling in at tea on 72/6.
McCarthy made the early inroads, trapping Sean Dickson LBW without scoring, then No3 Joe Denly under-edged an attempted pull through to the keeper.
England Lions batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond nicked into the cordon to give McCarthy 3/15 in his opening burst, after which the bustling Rushworth took over down the Nackington Road slope where he continued to give Kent the hurry-up.
Joe Weatherley had his middle stump plucked out by a full delivery, Will Gidman nicked to third slip, then Adam Rouse followed in identical fashion, to another sharp Ryan Pringle catch.
Kent’s demise continued after tea when Darren Stevens aimed to late cut against Gavin Main only to pick out Graham Clark at backward point, then Matt Coles steered one to slip to gift Rushworth a fourth wicket.
Northeast and Shah, on his Championship debut, then combined to bat out the 23 remaining overs of day two.
Earlier in the day, Durham battled hard to add a further 130 runs to their total and in order to bank four batting bonus points.
Collingwood posted his 34th first-class century from 160 balls. In a moment of brevity, the 41-year-old made as if to walk down the pitch on a zimmer frame to shake hands with his sixth-wicket partner Stuart Poynter.
Kent snatched a second bowling point in the 110th over when Stevens pegged back Poynter’s off stump to break a stand worth 67 then, four deliveries later, Matthew Potts followed a Stevens away-swinger to nick to the keeper before the veteran also had Collingwood.
But some excellent work from the tail added a vital 73 runs inside 20 overs either side of lunch through ninth-wicket pairing Rushworth and McCarthy.
Rushworth’s 67-ball cameo of 57, the first half century of his professional career spanning 218 matches in all competitions, ended when Bell-Drummond took a diving catch in the deep.
Close, Day One: Durham (318/5; Collingwood 93*, Pringle 71) vs Kent
Captain Paul Collingwood led from the front with 93* as Durham had much the better of promotion-chasing Kent in the Specsavers County Championship encounter in Canterbury.
The captain helped rally after losing a brace of wickets in each of the first two sessions to go in at stumps on 318/5 and three batting bonus points after Collingwood and fifth-wicket partner Ryan Pringle had combined either side of tea to add 141 in 42.3 overs.
Collingwood, one of only six players from both sides still surviving from the previous Championship clash between these two counties in 2010, escaped a couple of concerted appeals for lbw.
But he otherwise appeared untroubled against a useful Kent attack that, for the first time, included Pakistan mystery spinner Yasir Shah.
Batting first after winning the toss, Durham openers Stephen Cook and Keaton Jennings did well to survive tight, new-ball bursts by Matt Coles and Darren Stevens.
Having posted a first-wicket stand of 79, both departed within seven deliveries. Jennings lost his off stump to Will Gidman’s sixth ball of the match, a skidding leg-cutter, to go for 43 & in the next over, Cook played across the line to a full delivery from Coles to exit LBW.
Yasir came on at the Nackington Road End for the customary over before lunch, but was guilty of under-pitching in his maiden over in championship cricket. His 20 wicketless overs throughout the day cost 60 runs.
The same could not be said of Stevens who, soon after the interval, drew Graham Clark (13) forward with an away-swinger that feathered the bat for a catch behind by Adam Rouse.
The veteran Kent all-rounder then had Cameron Steel, who pushed inside the line at one that nipped off the pitch to clip the top of off stump.
Four down at tea but with a first batting bonus point in the bank, Collingwood must have been content with his side’s work over the first couple of sessions, but things improved immeasurably after tea. The 41-year-old went past 16,000 runs in his first-class career in posting his fourth 50 in five innings.
Then Pringle reached his 50 from 92 balls and with eight boundaries before he finally went to the second new ball for a season’s best 71 after spending 158 minutes at the crease.
Two boundaries from Stuart Poynter late in the day secured three batting points to leave Durham in a healthy position ahead of Day Two.