An unbeaten 112 from Sam Northeast was the highlight as Kent chased down 304 to beat Leicestershire by six wickets in the County Championship at Grace Road.

Having been restored to the side, the vice-captain carried on the imperious form he has shown in recent weeks playing for the Second XI by helping the side knock off the runs required before tea on the fourth day.

Kent were to go into Thursday morning well placed on 66 for 1, 238 runs short of their victory target and with Daniel Bell-Drummond and Ben Harmison having taken the side through to the close on Wednesday without alarm.

The pair carried on where they left off with Harmison nicking Nathan Buck behind to the waiting gloves of Niall O’Brien when on 40 and Bell-Drummond was to fall for 53 not long after as former team-mate Charlie Shreck found the edge of his bat and another former Kent man, O’Brien took the catch.

At 110 for 3, the game looked to be back in the balance, but a century stand between Northeast and Brendan Nash calmed the nerves with the Jamaican also out for 53 as he chipped Buck to Josh Cobb at mid on.

With Northeast having already passed fifty, Kent looked to accelerate with Darren Stevens in at six and it took the pair no time at all to knock off the 78 runs required for victory.

Northeast was to pass three figures off just 137 balls with 16 boundaries and it was he that smashed the winning runs, hitting three consecutive boundaries off Jigar Naik to the delight of the travelling Kent support.

The victory sees Kent secure 22 points from the game and they’ll now switch their attention back to Twenty 20 action when they face the Sussex Sharks at Hove on Friday night before heading to Colchester on Saturday afternoon to face the Essex Eagles.

 

Result: Leicestershire vs. Kent, LV=County Championship Division Two, Grace Road, Leicester, 7-10 July 2014:

Leicestershire 399 (Cobb 137, Taylor 98; Stevens 6-85) and 217 (Robson 56; Claydon 5-77, Hartley 2-40) lost to Kent 306 for 4 (Northeast 112*, Bell-Drummond 53, Nash 53) and 302 (Claydon 77, Stevens 57; Buck 4-97) by 6 wickets.

 

Leicestershire: Smith, Robson, Eckersley, Cobb*, Redfern, O’Brien†, Taylor, Raine, Naik, Buck, Shreck

Kent: Bell-Drummond, Key*, Harmison, Nash, Northeast, Stevens, Ball, Billings†, Claydon, Riley, Hartley

Kent won the toss and elected to bowl

Bonus points: Leicestershire 4, Kent 22. 

Full scorecard available here

 

Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com