Day two of the Rothesay County Championship Division two match between Kent and Durham at Beckenham started with Kent in a healthy position and they were still on top by the close.
Centuries from Ben Dawkins and Sam Northeast left them commencing the day on 385 for four with the former unbeaten on 180. However, four balls into the first session, Ben Raine got one to beat the nineteen year old’s defence and knock over his stumps with no further addition to either his, or his team’s score.
Benjamin then fell off Matthew Potts’ third ball of the day, caught by Casey Aldridge at second slip. Matt Milnes came out to join Ekansh Singh looking to rebuild the innings and he cut his first ball for four.
Two balls later, he edged Potts to Lees at third slip and hopes of four batting points for 450, and an overall total of five hundred plus looked a long way away.
Singh and new bat Keith Dudgeon had other ideas, though, and secured the fourth point in the 110th over with clever cricket and stroke-play. Hopes of getting through to lunch without further loss were ended when Dudgeon was caught behind by Ollie Robinson off Potts for 44 in the final over before the break.
They went in at 496 for 8 with Singh not out 50 and he only had one close shave when caught in the covers off Ben Stokes only for the England captain to discover that he had either bowled too many short balls in the over or had overstepped. Consequently, a no ball was called.
After lunch, James Taylor joined Singh and they saw the five hundred up before Taylor, on ten, attempted a slog and was caught in the covers to gift Potts his fifth wicket. Singh then tried to shield Matt Parkinson from as much of the strike as possible.
Despite that, the number eleven did enjoy playing out five balls against his twin brother Callum before Potts had him caught at slip to finish with 6 for 92. Kent totalled 523 with Singh unbeaten on 66.
Zak Crawley’s England replacement Emilio Gay, something of a Kent nemesis in recent years, then came out to face the new ball but didn’t last long when bowled for a six ball duck by Milnes. Alex Lees was joined by injury substitute Will Rhodes, replacing Ben McKinney who damaged his ankle in the warm up.
Taylor bowled six overs without luck before Singh came on to back up his batting with some nippy bowling. He removed Lees LBW for 31, and Rhodes caught by Dudgeon at slip for 19, before making way for Parkinson.
Dudgeon then had Clark caught behind by Benjamin for five and Durham were in a spot of trouble at 88 for 4. Daniel Bedingham was joined by former Kent wicketkeeper Robinson with Stokes, who did not field after lunch due to illness, dropping another place down the order.
Bedingham, who had hit four fours off Dudgeon’s first over, hit a six and two fours off a Singh over and raced to his half century from just thirty-five deliveries before Durham went in for tea at 121 for 4.
So dark was it after tea, that Tanwar Muyeye and Parkinson bowled in tandem until the light improved and Milnes and Dudgeon could return. The former was very unlucky to have an adjacent looking LBW on Robinson turned down but it mattered little when two balls later, the Durham wicketkeeper nibbled at one and was well caught by Dudgeon at slip for 27.
That brought Stokes to the crease and there was an air of excitement amongst the hardy spectators who remained in the cold conditions. Sadly bad light stopped play at 173 for 5 with Bedingham 72 not out and the England captain unbeaten on eight. It then rained and play was called off with fifteen and a half overs lost in the day.
Kent’s Ekansh Singh said: “We batted really well and now we’ve got the five down, I think they’re 350 behind or something, so we’re in a really strong position. It does always make you a little bit nervous when you see three wickets fall that quickly. I think for me especially, I was thinking about trusting my technique and everything that I’ve worked on and not really getting too far ahead of that.
“There’s still loads of time in the game and I was just focussing on playing each ball on its merit and trusting my instincts. There is a bit of tennis ball bounce, some of them seem to skid through and some of them a bit more slow off the deck, but that’s about it.”
(On facing Stokes and Potts et all) “It was good, a good challenge and quite exciting really to be able to play against those boys. And yeah, it was a bit of a fight sometimes with that bouncer spell, but I’m happy to have got through it.
“I felt good with the ball so far and the game was played for first team and I just wanted to get some time in the middle, which I’m happy I got today.”
(On hitting Callum Parkinson for six while his twin brother Matt was at the other end.)
“He enjoyed that and I think Matt was enjoying the fact that he’d gone for 100 runs as well. I know Matt Milnes enjoyed getting Ollie Robinson. It’s good to have him back in the side because he strengthens our bowling unit so much.”
Pictures supplied by Keith Gillard.