Zak Crawley stars amid bowlers onslaught to put Kent in command

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Zak Crawley stars amid bowlers onslaught to put Kent in command


northamptonshire 117 (Quinn 4-25, Stewart 3-6) and 47 for 2 trails Kent 222 (Crawley 91, Tremain 5-44, White 4-57) for 58 runs

Zak Crawley scored 91 to leave Kent in a strong position at the end of the second day in their LV=Insurance County Championship game with Northamptonshire at Canterbury. The visitors were down to 47 for two in their second innings, still trailing by 58 at stumps.

Crawley was by far the leading scorer in a game dominated by the bowlers. Chris Tremain took five for 44 and Jack White four for 57 as Kent were all out for 222, while earlier Matt Quinn took 4 for 25 as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 117 in their first innings.

Only 26 overs were bowled on the first day and although the weather had dramatically improved by the time Northamptonshire resumed on 89 for seven, batting didn’t look any easier when Quinn struck with the second ball of the morning, taking out James Sales lbw for five.

Gareth Berg went down fighting, hitting three straight fours off Michael Hogan and put on 32 with Tremain, but the highest innings partnership ended when Quinn caught the latter for 9. With his next delivery, Quinn bowled White for a golden duck. , stranding Berg on the 21st.

Kent openers Ben Compton and Crawley put in 42 for the first wicket, but the first was caught for 25, leaving the hosts at 50 for one at lunch.

The Spitfires advanced to 90 to one as Tremain revived the visitors with two wickets from three balls.

Daniel Bell-Drummond went down for 27 to a Josh Cobb catch on short fine leg and Joe Denly went lbw for a second ball duck.

Crawley brought Kent into the lead and reverse-swept Rob Keogh to reach 49, before shoving the same square-legged bowler back by three to reach his half-century, but White responded with two quick wickets.

Jack Leaning went lbw for 26 before Jordan Cox passed the third ball he faced on the leg side to Lewis McManus for five.

Kent had moved into 192 by five over tea, and Crawley looked set to hit three figures when he miscalculated a delivery from Tremain and Berg took a wheelbarrow between the sheets. Joey Evison then edged White behind by five and Grant Stewart was caught behind Tremain for a four-ball duck.

With only his tail to bat, Sam Billings struck. Tremain dropped it deep to White and hit the next ball over White’s head for six, before it fell horribly on Tremain, the ball catching the tip of his raised bat before drifting past McManus. Hogan fell into the next ball slips and broke the four that took Kent’s lead past three figures before the innings concluded when White had Quinn lbw for 2.

Quinn had Compton catch Ricardo Vasconcelos for four and Evison catch Sam Whiteman from behind for 12, but mildly ridiculous scenes ensued when the lights went up at 7pm, with batsmen Hassan Azad and Luke Procter seemingly eager to leave the field.

After a lengthy discussion in the middle, play continued with Kent bowling his spinners Leaning and Denly for one over each, but no more wickets fell.