All-rounder Joey Evison made his third half-century this season as Kent battled back against Lancashire on the opening day of their Vitality County Championship Division 1 match at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday.
Evison was helped by Grant Stewart, with whom he put on 69 for the seventh wicket, a stand in which both batsmen took the attack to Lancashire’s Test spinners – Nathan Lyon (2-42) and Tom Hartley (0-24) – on a gloomy afternoon.
The duo came together with their side 129-6 after George Balderson (3-62) had taken three prime wickets in 28 balls but their calculated aggression had enabled the visitors to reach 203-7, with Evison unbeaten on 50, when rain arrived five overs into the evening session and prevented any chance of a resumption.
Stewart said: “In the first hour of play, it looked like there wasn’t a helluva lot going on but then there was a period there when it looked as though everything was going on.
“But Joey steadied the ship there and then Joe Denly faced a lot of balls and consolidated the innings.
“We’re probably a few short of where we want to be but we’ll fight again tomorrow and, hopefully, get a few more.
“It’s good to be back and Joey’s been one of our form batters, so it was nice to be out there with him and to try and feed him some of the strike.”
Evison and Stewart’s aggression was in sharp contrast to the watchful opening 75 minutes of the day, in which 45 runs were scored in 17 overs.
Kent then lost three wickets in four overs. Ben Compton was the first to go when he pushed forward to a delivery from Balderson and was caught by wicketkeeper Matty Hurst for 13.
Zak Crawley stroked a trio of fine fours off successive balls from Balderson but was dismissed for 41 in the next over when his cover drive to Will Williams (2-28) nicked a catch to Hurst.
And the hosts’ best period was completed a few minutes later when Balderson nipped one away from Daniel Bell-Drummond and the Kent skipper was caught by George Bell at third slip for three.
Jack Leaning was bowled for four when a ball from Balderson snaked inside his loose off-drive and knocked back the leg-stump. That meant Kent had lost four wickets for 27 runs and it left the visitors 76-4 at lunch.
Matters got no better for Kent on the resumption when Harry Finch was pinned on the crease by Williams for three.
However, 22-year-old Evison showed no sign of being overawed and put on 46 with Joe Denly, who then tried to take on Jennings – the long-on fielder – and was caught by the Lancashire skipper from Australian Lyon for 18.
By mid-afternoon, Lyon was bowling in tandem with Hartley, a tactic to which Evison and Stewart responded with selective attack.
Italian international all-rounder Stewart showed a particular keenness to swat Lyon through the offside whenever he pitched short and brought up the pair’s 50 partnership when he thumped Hartley over long-on for six.
Only six balls could be bowled after tea before a brief interruption for rain and, shortly after the players returned, Evison reached his 50 off 117 balls with a single off Lyon.
But joy in the away dressing-room was short-lived as Stewart was caught by Luke Wells off the next delivery when he pushed forward with uncharacteristic caution and nicked a catch to slip.
