Kent completed a first Rothesay County Championship Division 2 win of the season against Derbyshire at Canterbury on Monday.
Having started the summer with two draws followed by a heavy away defeat, career-best figures of 6-12 for Matt Milnes from 15 second-innings overs inspired Kent to a 225-run triumph in front of a crowd of in excess of 600 as Kent offered free entry on the Bank Holiday.
It was Kent’s first red-ball victory since they had began the tenure of head coach Adam Hollioake with successive wins in April 2025.
After Milnes had completed his wicket maiden from the previous evening, Keith Dudgeon (1-58) felt he had taken a wicket nearly instantly. But his appeals for a caught behind fell on deaf ears.
Dudgeon didn’t have to wait long for a breakthrough, though, as teenager Ben Dawkins superbly snaffled Harry Came at gully at the start of a decisive first hour.
Milnes followed suit when he found the edge of the bat of Matt Montgomery, who went for a second-ball duck, caught in the slips by Tawanda Muyeye. That left the visitors 25-3 – and the required target of 384 runs already feeling a long way off.
Still inside the first 20 minutes on day four, the same combination of Milnes and Muyeye linked up to get captain Wayne Madsen for four.
Everything was going right for Hollioake’s home side and a first change reaped maximum reward. Martin Andersson saw his off-stump dislodged by a peach of a ball by Joey Evison (1-25).
And Derbyshire found themselves in all sorts of trouble when Milnes castled Brooke Guest to leave them 41-6.
Zak Chappell and Luis Reece offered some resistance through a 31-run partnership before the former was bowled by Jas Singh (1-41) for 20 by one that kept low.
Reece decided attack was the best form of attack just before lunch and fired Ekansh Singh (1-14) over the leg-side boundary.
He was 29 not out while Ben Aitchison – who survived a huge lbw appeal off Ekansh Singh bowling on the final day of the morning session – was also unbeaten and Derbyshire were 103-7 at lunch.
Milnes completed his five-wicket haul when he had Aitchison caught behind for 12, much to the batsmen’s disgust, and also had Rory Haydon trapped in front to leave them 115-9 in the 43rd over.
Reece remained and moved to a second half-century of the game off 76 balls when he clipped Jas Singh to the leg-side boundary. As the 35-year-old motored, a big maximum off the same bowler took the visitors beyond the 150-run mark.
But Reece was the last man out when he was caught by wicketkeeper Chris Benjamin from Ekansh Singh’s bowling for a well-made 67.
Kent picked up 22 points from the win while Derbyshire collected five losing bonus point.
Kent will take on Gloucestershire in Bristol from Friday.
