Daniel Bell-Drummond hit his second consecutive LV= County Championship century on day one of Kent’s game with Glamorgan at Canterbury.
After making 103, Kent’s first three-figure score of the season in last week’s draw with Leicestershire, 21-year-old Bell-Drummond helped put his side in a solid position after a closely fought first day of their Championship encounter with the Welsh side, which Kent perhaps just edged. He made 123 in his side’s first innings, which reached 330-8 when Calum Haggett was dismissed in the final over of the day.
After a tough start to the season which had seen them lose to Essex and Lancashire and draw at home to Leicestershire last week, Kent made three changes to their side. With Rob Key having left himself out to work on the technical side of his game, Fabian Cowdrey came in in his place. Haggett replaced Mitch Claydon, and James Tredwell, fresh from his time with England in the West Indies, was brought in for Adam Riley.
The one change for Glamorgan from the side that drew with Derbyshire in their last game saw David Lloyd replace Andy Carter, who was recalled from his loan spell by parent club Nottinghamshire.
The morning session belonged to Kent, who reached lunch on 125-1. Having won the toss and elected to bat on a clearly green-tinged pitch, the home side’s openers Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly found the going tough early on, but showed sensible restraint to play themselves in. Indeed, it took 34 balls for the first runs of the day to be scored, when Denly pulled Graham Wagg for four.
Once the first runs came, however, the Kent batsmen kept their side ticking along nicely. The total had reached 68-0 – Kent’s best opening stand of the season so far – with both men looking settled when Denly got out, edging the consistent and probing Michael Hogan to Glamorgan captain Jacques Rudolph at third slip to go for 30.
That would be the visitors only success in the first session, with Bell-Drummond reaching his half-century shortly before lunch, bringing up the landmark from 95 balls.
The Lewisham-born batsman looked in good touch throughout his innings; happy to leave the ball as necessary, quick to put away the bad balls, and looking particularly strong cutting through the off-side, as he sent a number of wayward deliveries to the boundary off Craig Meschede’s first spell.
Glamorgan began to make inroads into the Kent batting order after the lunch break, with two wickets in the first half of the session. First, Brendan Nash, batting at number three in the absence of Kent skipper Rob Key, edged Hogan behind to wicket-keeper Mark Wallace. Nash had looked in good touch in the morning, but struggled a little after the break, eventually giving his wicket away as he edged an expansive shot outside the off-stump.
Sam Northeast, one of Kent’s better batsmen in what has been a disappointing start to the season, and captain in the absence of Key, had made 8 when he too was dismissed, playing around a good ball from Meschede that nipped back at him to trap him lbw.
With the fall of those two wickets, Kent needed stability. That was provided, for a while, by Fabian Cowdrey alongside Bell-Drummond; the third-generation batsman making his second Championship appearance of the season, after also facing Essex in Kent’s opening game.
Having come together with the score on 145-3, the pair added 45 before Cowdrey was dismissed for 14, driving at David Lloyd to edge behind to Wallace for a regulation catch.
Joined at the crease by Darren Stevens, Bell-Drummond was continuing to make progress, and reached his fourth County Championship century (and sixth in First Class cricket) shortly before tea. He brought his hundred with two fours in an over of Meschede, receiving a richly deserved standing ovation from the Canterbury crowd as he raised his bat to the dressing room. His 179-ball innings had featured 16 fours, and had been a mature and attractive knock.
Having moved the score onto 222-4 at the tea break, the Kent batsmen began the evening session in a more measured fashion as Glamorgan bowled with good discipline.
Bell-Drummond was never quite able to regain the fluency he had shown earlier in the day, perhaps in part to being struck on the helmet by an accidental David Lloyd beamer while on 116.
Glamorgan took the new ball at their first opportunity on 80 overs, and it immediately paid dividends; Hogan snaring his third wicket as he ended Bell-Drummond’s five-hour stay at the crease, gone lbw for a wonderful 123, and ending a partnership of 87 with Stevens.
The Kent all-rounder moved to a 75-ball half-century a few overs later, but he too fell; dismissed the very next ball after raising his bat, as he guided a Graham Wagg delivery straight into the hands of Rudolph at leg slip.
That dismissal left Kent 289-6, with Sam Billings and Calum Haggett together at the crease. Wicket-keeper Billings, unused in England’s rained-out ODI against Ireland on Friday, made a quick-fire, positive 26, before swatting at a short ball from Meschede, and allowing Chris Cooke to take an easy catch.
As Coles joined Haggett for the last few overs, the pair looked to see out the remaining overs to the close. However, with the first ball of the final over, Haggett, on 8, edged the excellent Hogan to Rudolph in the slips; the Glamorgan skipper taking his third catch of the day, and giving the Australian bowler his fourth wicket, leaving the score 330-8 at the close.
After a tight, intriguing first day’s play, both sides will have reason to be pleased. Kent’s batting showed clear signs of improvement, while Glamorgan came back strongly late on after a few tough earlier spells.
Kent will look to push on towards 350 for another batting bonus point in the morning, while Glamorgan will be hoping to remove the final few Kent batsmen quickly and get on with building a total of their own.
Stumps, day one: Kent vs. Glamorgan, LV= County Championship Division Two, The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury, 10-13 May 2015:
Kent 330-8 (Bell-Drummond 123, Stevens 50; Hogan 4-53) after 95.1 overs against Glamorgan.
Kent: Bell-Drummond, Denly, Nash, Northeast*, Cowdrey, Stevens, Billings†, Haggett, Coles, Tredwell, Thomas
Glamorgan: Kettleborough, Rudolph*, Bragg, Ingram, Cooke, Wallace†, Wagg, Lloyd, Meschede, Cosker, Hogan
Kent won the toss and elected to bat.
Points: Kent 3, Glamorgan 2
Full scorecard available here.
Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.co.uk