A dogged, defiant unbeaten 114 from opener Ben Compton. along with some usefully-timed rain enabled Kent to bat out the day at the St Lawrence Ground against a rampant Northamptonshire, who had amassed a goliath 684-2 across the first five sessions of the match.
Kent began the day with a mountain to climb. They were still 344 runs behind Northamptonshire’s mammoth total of 684 with seven second innings wickets remaining. For Kent to get an undeserved draw out of the game, they needed to bat all day, possibly with some assistance from the weather.
The morning session took place under floodlights and gloomy skies as Ben Compton looked to occupy and accumulate, while night watcher Jas Singh looked to survive and frustrate the Northants bowlers.
Northants’ overseas seamer Harry Conway removed Jas Singh with a short ball that Singh could only fend off to McManus behind the stumps for two runs from 15 balls.
Two overs later, Kent’s second wicket of the day fell as new batter Tawanda Muyeye was judged LBW from Ben Sanderson’s fifth ball of his opening over.
With Northamptonshire’s bowlers on top, Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond joined Compton at the crease with his side teetering on 179-5.
The next passage of play was an intriguing game of cat and mouse as the two experienced batters endeavoured to calm any dressing room nerves with sensible defence, while taking any runs that were on offer.
The real battle was between Compton and highly-rated leg-spinning all-rounder Calvin Harrison. Harrison bowled unchanged from thew pavilion end for the duration of the session, aiming for the footmarks outside Compton’s off-stump.
Compton played with low hands, looking to block and work the ball to leg, but he had plenty of company with some aggressive fields. Harrison bowled with a slip, leg slip, silly mid off and short leg to the Kent opener, at one point even taking the silly mid off into a forward short leg and leaving only two off-side fielders in play to incite an aggressive shot.
Compton did not take the bait, but instead played out maidens, survived LBW shouts and slowly inched his way into the 90s.
At the other end, Bell-Drummond was playing a quite different game as he batted with a strike rate of 86, taking 13 from one James Sales over with three fours in the over.
As Compton moved into the 90s, the bowlers were playing on his patience, with Sales bowling a series of short balls to a field set for the hook, while Harrison offered more flight. Compton was unperturbed and gradually moved to 99.
Rain stopped play at 12:30 and the umpires called for an early lunch interval. Compton was 99* and Bell-Drummond 33*.
The rain continued through the lunch interval, which resulted in no play for the duration of the afternoon session.
Play eventually resumed at 17:10 after more rain at tea. With 60 overs lost in the day, Northants had a minimum of 15 overs in the final hour to try to force a result.
Compton brought up his century – his 19th in first-class cricket – with a drive for 3 in the fourth ball after the restart.
Northamptonshire took the new ball shortly after Compton’s century and looked for a late breakthrough. However, Bell-Drummond eschewed his earlier aggression and added only three more runs to his total, while facing 36 more deliveries. Compton continued at his usual pace until the handshakes were offered after 91 0vers.
At close of play, Kent were 253-5, with Compton on 114* and Bell-Drummond on 36*.
Northants will rue how long they continued to bat in day two as their first innings total was still 243 runs ahead of Kent’s aggregate total with 15 wickets down. Had they made a more aggressive declaration, they would have had a very good chance of beating Kent and moving into the top three.
Kent were lucky. Very lucky. The two opening fixtures have already formed a worryingly coherent narrative. Kent have failed to get a batting point over the two games; they leaked runs in both games and struggled to take wickets this time around; and they were arguably saved by the weather on both occasions. While there is a chance they could have continued batting in both games, had time permitted, they were comfortably on the back foot in both scenarios.
Kent are currently playing like a team who will finish towards the bottom of the table and with Glenton Stuurman’s injury, the bowling threat is looking distinctly less potent.
Kent have 11 days until their next men’s County Championship game. They need to regroup and come up with a plan to turn these performances around.
Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond said: “It was tricky with only one team able to win the game, but thankfuly we held on for the draw, and Ben Compton played brilliantly, just picking up from last year. He’s a quality player and it was great to see him start the season well too. So we owe a lot to him and the weather. It was tricky, but it’s first-class cricket.
“He’s one of the best players in the country and his numbers show that. He got a decent ball in the first innings but played really nicely after the follow on. There were tricky spells last night that him and Sam Northeast dealt with well and he saw us through there, batting a heck of a lot of time. He just showed his class.
“It wasn’t good enough, it was clear to see that first innings bowling was not up to scratch one bit. That was not good so we’re having a few meetings and I need to learn as well to try and get the best out of us, but the bowlers need to pick up their game. They know that, that wasn’t good enough, but I think to come away with a draw, we kind of got away with it in some ways because of the weather. We also showed some good character while clearly being second best.”
Northamptonshire’s Darren Lehmann said: “There’s so many positives. It was a really good four-day performance, or three days, we lost a day to weather. If we played the whole game, there’s no doubt we’d probably get away with the chocolates there.
“So we played so well, dominated the game from ball one really. And if we play like that, we’ll have some really good results. It’s just frustrating. We’ve had a couple last year and now a couple this year, well, one this year, but that’s weather and that’s England.
“We tried to speed the game up, scoring so quickly in the first innings to give ourselves more time, but just not enough time. We fought really hard last week against Lancashire, I think both sides were a bit rusty. We could have done things a lot better in that game, but we got away with a draw there.
“This one was total domination, so for us it was more of a case of being disappointed not to come away with a win, but we’re pleased with the way we went about it. I’m pleased for Luke Procter, because he works really hard, as you know. He’s a stalwart of our club, and I love what he brings to the table as a captain, but also the infectious nature. He brings energy, and he’s got 260, and he’s chasing the ball to the boundary to stop every run for his bowlers.
“So for me, that’s sort of what we want from our players, all our players, and he leads from the front in that regard. He’s quiet around the place, but he leads from the front as a captain, and we’re really pleased with that.”
Picture supplied by Nick Dillam.