Kent teenager Olly Curtiss has spoken about making his first-class debut against Leicestershire.
The 17-year-old is one of five teenagers in the Kent line-up for the Rothesay County Championship clash at champions-elect Leicestershire.
“It was a tough day but a good experience!” said Curtiss, who took 0-39 in six overs with the ball. “Receiving my cap before the start felt great.
“I found out on the evening before the game I’d be playing but I felt quite calm and relaxed.
“It helped I’ve been playing with some of the younger lads for quite a few years now.
“To be bowling against someone as good as Shan Masood was a reminder of what this is all about, and you can only learn from it.
“There was a bit there for the bowlers in the first session and perhaps we didn’t quite capitalise on it.
“We’ll have to apply ourselves with the bat, which is what Harry {Finch] and Ben [Dawkins] did in getting through those last few overs.”
A tough day in the field for Kent, after day one was wiped out due to strong winds, saw Leicestershire take advantage of short boundaries at Grace Road to declare on 459-7. The visitors saw out just over nine overs to close on 17-0.
Also making his first-class debut was 19-year-old Corey Flintoff, with father Andrew watching on.
Jaydn Denly, at second slip, dropped a straight-forward chance given by Sol Budinger off the bowling of Joey Evison. Denly left the field due to illness shortly afterwards.
Budinger hit Evison for six over mid-wicket but went to the next ball as Flintoff took a comfortable catch at second slip.
Rishi Patel looked in good touch from the start and dominated the scoring as he dealt almost exclusively in boundaries in the opening hour. There were plenty of testing balls too, and George Garrett produced a beauty to square up and bowl Ian Holland, but a score of 151-2 off 30 overs at lunch told its own story.
Having hit ten boundaries in going to his half-century, Patel hit another ten in going to three figures, his second championship century of the season, shortly after lunch.
Kent were already looking down the barrel, but Patel (114) played too soon at an Ekansh Singh delivery and got a leading edge that looped to mid-on, a maiden first-class wicket for the 19-year-old, and Lewis Hill (54), having registered his seventh half-century of the season, slashed a wide short ball from Michael Cohen straight to point.
When Steve Eskinazi went leg before to Evison, Leicestershire were in danger of wasting their flying start at 278-5. But the elegant Shan Masood was calmness personified, and he found lively support from Ben Cox.
Together they added 161 for the sixth wicket in less than 25 overs and both seemed certain to reach three figures. But Garrett, bowling with the new ball, pushed one across Masood (90) to find an edge which carried to slip before Grant Stewart – who bowled just four overs – took a fine leaping catch at mid-on to dismiss Cox (93) off the bowling of Evison (3-67).
With maximum batting points secured, Leicestershire declared their innings that lasted less than 85 overs.
Without Denly, Kent skipper Harry Finch deserved credit for stepping up to open alongside young Ben Dawkins and the pair got through 9.1 overs when bad light stopped play for the day.
Report from ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
