Lancashire are closing in on victory on day three of the LV= Insurance County Championship game with Kent, who are 81 for six in their second innings at Canterbury, still needing another 165 to make the visitors bat again.
Kent were bowled out for 260 in their first innings and with a lead of 246, Lancashire immediately enforced the follow on.
Matt Parkinson has match figures of six for 88 while George Balderson has taken four for 16, including three for 14 in Kent’s first innings, putting the visitors in a dominant position.
Ben Compton made an unbeaten 104 in Kent’s first innings, having been stuck on 99 for 38 minutes, and he was unbeaten on 20 at stumps, having witnessed all 16 dismissals from the other end and having been on the pitch for every minute of all three days. In total Compton faced 421 balls over 571 minutes for an unbeaten aggregate score of 124.
All nine wickets to fall on day two had been taken by spinners (six for Hamid Qadri, three for Parkinson) but pace finally counted after half an hour, when night-watchman Qadri, who’d already taken a violent blow to the right shoulder, saw his off stump pinged back by Tom Bailey, bowling him for 10.
Jordan Cox then lost his off-stump to Hasan Ali for two, but Ollie Robinson hung around for just over an hour to make 27 before he was lbw to Parkinson, leaving Kent on 204 for six at lunch, having resumed on 133 for three.
Darren Stevens made just six before he was lbw to Ali, who celebrated with a banshee-like wail, but the afternoon’s main plot concerned Compton, who moved to 99 with a single off Bailey in the 87th over and then faced four successive maidens while nearly running out of partners.
While Compton was marooned on 99, Matt Milnes was caught behind off George Balderson for 22 and Nathan Gilchrist was caught by Luke Wells off the very next delivery. Jackson Bird thwacked Balderson’s hat-trick ball to the square leg boundary, but it was only when Parkinson replaced Bailey at the Pavilion End that Compton was finally able to celebrate.
Having faced 24 balls and played only one false shot, he glanced the spinner for a single to short fine leg to clinch his second century in as many innings for his new club.
When Balderson bowled Bird for 9 in the next over to conclude Kent’s first innings, Compton became the Kent player to carry his bat since Daniel Bell-Drummond in 2017 and he was given just a ten-minute break before he was asked to do it all over again.
Zak Crawley made just five before he edged Balderson behind to a diving one-handed catch by Phil Salt and Bell-Drummond had made just nine when he glanced Danny Lamb down the leg side to become Salt’s second victim of the innings.
Kent reached 28 for two at tea and lost Tawanda Muyeye early in the evening session when he tried to pull Bailey and was caught by Steven Croft for 17. Cox then inexplicably tried charging Parkinson and was bowled for one, having faced just seven balls.
Robinson showed some of Compton’s discipline, lasting 61 balls before Ali had him lbw for 11, but Stevens survived just four deliveries before he was lbw to Parkinson for one.
Matt Milnes was unbeaten on eight at stumps but Kent will need a miraculous final day to avoid an innings defeat.
Kent’s Ben Compton said: “I’m just exhausted but to follow up my innings at Essex with my first century at Canterbury is obviously very important to me. It’s just one of those days where things happen quickly and we’re in a bit of trouble now but we’ve got to try and battle deep tomorrow and see how far we can get.
“I was just trying to watch the ball as closely as I can. It’s not terrible batting conditions, the sun’s out and it worked for me today. There’ll be other days when naturally you find yourself on the wrong end of things but I’m just grateful I could spend a long time out there and try to do my job as well as I can.
(On being stuck on 99.) “It was a bit of a weird one, I don’t think that’s happened to me before, to be stuck on that number for so long, they were quite smart about it, they just put the ball there and I had to try and look for something and just try to be patient. I got there in the end thankfully.”
(On whether he was tempted to drop down the order) “I think as soon as they said we were batting again I knew I’d be straight out there so I just tried to reset. You’re back on zero and you’ve got to see off the new ball, so that was my aim really. I’m thrilled, it’s not really sunk in yet, it’s been pretty much back-to-back games but I’m sure I’ll sit down one day and enjoy it, but I’ve just got to sit down and rest and go as far as we can tomorrow.”
Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson said: “We probably didn’t think we’d have as much success as we did, actually it’s taken shape similar to last year, it’s not quite the same but it’s a fantastic effort from the boys. Strangely enough it’s probably not one of the grounds I think about bowling on, I just guess I’m lucky that the two times I’ve been it’s suited me.
“First innings it was drifting nicely, I think the danger ball was probably starting just outside off and coming back in, trying to hit them on the pads. There has been the odd ball that has spun, one to Cox which I’m not really counting so that’s probably been the tactic.
“I think coming here to Canterbury both years the pitches have been good and that’s what cricket needs. It gives you the time as a leg spinner to bowl and bowl and bowl, formulate some plans and try different things. At Old Trafford you have quick success as a spinner and stick to the same things. Credit to the ground staff here’s it’s been a great pitch.”