Grant Stewart’s glorious 130 helped to secure a nerve-shredding draw for Kent and frustrate James Anderson on a dramatic last day of the Rothesay County Championship Division 2 match against Lancashire at Blackpool.
Such an outcome had seemed unlikely in the extreme in mid-afternoon, when the visitors had slumped to 116-7 in the second innings, still 149 in arrears. At that point it looked as though Anderson was on course for an innings victory in his first game as Red Rose skipper.
But Stewart and Joey Evison put on 182 for the eighth wicket in thrilling fashion to take Kent into the black, and even though Anderson had Stewart caught at cover for 130, Kent survived to finish on 328-8, with Evison unbeaten on a brilliantly gutsy 77 when the players shook hands.
Australian off-spinner Chris Green took 4-104 and Tom Bailey 3-61 for Lancashire, who are still waiting for their first Championship victory of the season. By contrast, the draw ends a dismal run of four defeats for Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond’s side.
“It got pretty tense towards the end,” admitted Evison. “Grant Stewart played a magnificent innings to get us a draw which was a very good result, given that we were behind the eight ball for three out of the four days.
“We’re pretty pleased. Grant and I just tried to bat in 20-minute segments. I had to put my ego aside when Grant came in and he was scoring really freely. I was just trying to play nice and straight until I got a loose ball.
“It’s been a pretty tough season for me, so I’m just pleased I could dig in. It’s not the way I normally try and bat but when Grant’s playing like that, you can’t do too much because we were going at six or eight an over anyway.”
Needing to bat almost all day to avoid defeat, Kent chose to open the batting with specialist leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, who was doing the job for the first time in his county career.
But it was Parkinson’s opening partner, Ben Compton, who was the first batsman dismissed when he was lbw to Bailey for six in the sixth over of the morning.
Having removed their opponents’ best and most adhesive batsman, Lancashire then dismissed Parkinson for four three overs later when the former Old Trafford favourite turned an off-spinner from Green into the hands of Josh Bohannon at backward short leg.
The following hour was filled with appeals, most of them cacophonous, none of them answered in the affirmative. Instead, Jaydn Denly and Bell-Drummond took their side to lunch on 74-2, the only alarm coming in the final over before the interval when Denly was struck a painful blow on the point of the elbow by a shortish ball from Mitch Stanley.
Kent’s equilibrium was then disturbed in an even more significant fashion four balls into the afternoon session when Bell-Drummond was dismissed for 13, Keaton Jennings sticking out his right hand to take a superb reflex catch at short leg off Green.
That success began a golden half hour for Green, who had Tawanda Muyeye caught by Jennings at short leg for three and Jack Leaning caught at slip by Luke Wells off successive deliveries to complete a devastating spell in which he had removed three top-order batsmen in 15 balls.
The only solace for Kent in this period came when Denly reached his maiden first-class 50 with a single off Stanley and the visitors’ hopes might have been raised a trifle when he put on 32 for the sixth wicket with Evison.
But it seemed that Lancashire were not to be denied. Now bowling off-spin, Bailey knocked back Denly’s off-stump with a fine ball when the 19-year-old had made 57 and, four balls later, he had Harry Finch caught at short leg by Jennings for nought.
But Evison and Stewart then went on the attack in utterly memorable fashion, sharing a stand filled with attacking stroke play either side of tea. In the second over of the evening session, Stewart hit Mitchell Stanley for three vicious leg-side sixes, reaching a 42-ball half-century in the process with five fours and four maximums.
Just 43 minutes later, a cover-driven four off Green took Stewart to his 79-ball hundred, He had smashed eight sixes in addition to nine fours and he and Evison had set a new eighth-wicket first-class record for Kent against Lancashire.
However, just when Kent were glimpsing safety, Stewart was caught at cover by Bailey for 130 and it needed Wes Agar to help Evison achieve a draw that must seem a little like a victory.
Report from ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
