Doug Bollinger took five wickets on his debut, before Kent’s lost their top three cheaply in their chase of 266 to win against Worcestershire.

Having had the home side at 113-5 at lunch – a lead of just 108, Kent would have had high hopes of knocking the remaining wickets over and having a go at knocking the majority of the runs off later in the day.

As it was, despite the excellent Doug Bollinger’s 5-43, Ben Cox’s 89 helped Worcestershire to a total of 270, before Kent lost three wickets in the 22 overs they had to see out before the close.

Kent knew that early wickets would give them their only chance of staying in the game, having failed to make a breakthrough in 17 overs during the previous evening, by which time the home side had reached 41-0.

Bollinger was the pick of the Kent bowlers throughout, regularly troubling all the batsmen, and he made the initial breakthrough for his new side, having in-form Worcestershire captain Daryl Mitchell well caught by Sam Billings behind the stumps for 27, ending an opening partnership of 53 with Matt Pardoe.

That brought England batsman and the home side’s dangerman Moeen Ali to the crease, but his stay in the middle lasted just the solitary delivery as Bollinger trapped him lbw. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, coming off a duck in the first innings, was able to see out the hat-trick ball, and put on 23 with Pardoe before falling for 18 off the bowling of Tredwell, Brendan Nash taking a smart low catch at mid-wicket.

A decent opening session became an even better one for Kent when they picked up two more wickets before the lunch interval. First Bollinger had Pardoe (43) caught and bowled, before fellow Aussie Mitch Claydon bowled Alexei Kervezee (21) in the final over before the break, leaving the home side 113-5.

Following the interval, Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox upped the run rate and looked to score more quickly off the Kent bowlers, adding 29 in the first five overs of the afternoon session. Bollinger was again the go-to-man for Kent, bowling Whiteley for 34, ending a partnership of 55.

Kent picked up two further wickets during the afternoon session, both of them going to Robbie Joseph, who had Gareth Andrew (8) caught by James Tredwell, and then removed Shaaiq Choudhry’s off-stump for a fifth ball duck, leaving the score on 188-8.

Jack Shantry joined Cox at the crease, and helped the wicket-keeper through to an important half-century, his knock coming off 90 balls. The pair saw their side through to the tea break, by which stage they had moved their side to 228-8; a lead of 223.

Bollinger secured himself a debut five-fer by removing Shantry lbw in the first over after the tea break, ending a 50 partnership, but last man Charlie Morris hung around long enough for Cox to make a further impression on the scorecard. The pair took Worcestershire’s lead to over 250, and Cox to his highest First Class score of 89, before he was bowled by Tredwell, leaving the home side 270 all out and Kent needing 266 to win.

As Sam Northeast and Rob Key made their way to the middle, with 22 overs still left in the day, they would have hoped to be able to set a steady foundation for their side to attack the target on the final day.

As it was, Northeast lasted just three balls in the innings, before he was lbw to Andrew without scoring, and having made 13, captain Rob Key fell the same way.

Daniel Bell-Drummond, who top-scored in Kent’s innings with 61, was also dismissed lbw, this time to Shantry, leaving Kent in real trouble at 27-3.

Brendan Nash and Ben Harmison, who also made fifty in the first innings, then came together in the middle, and were able to see Kent through to the close on 51-3.

With another 215 still needed on a pitch where deliveries are regularly keeping low, Kent will need application and grit from the rest of their batting order tomorrow if they are to get close to their target of 266, and open their season with what would now be an unlikely victory.

 

Stumps, day three: Worcestershire vs. Kent, LV= County Championship Division Two, New Road, Worcester, 13-16 April 2014:

Kent 229 (Bell-Drummond 61, Harmison 55, Andrew 4-42) and 51-3 require 215 more runs to beat Worcestershire 224 (Kervezee 54, Joseph 3-43) and 270 (Cox 89, Bollinger 5-43), with seven wickets remaining.

 

Worcestershire: Mitchell*, Pardoe, Ali, Kohler-Cadmore, Kervezee, Whiteley, Cox†, Andrew, Choudhry, Shantry, Morris.

Kent: Northeast, Key*, Bell-Drummond, Nash, Harmison, Stevens, Billings†, Tredwell, Claydon, Joseph, Bollinger.

Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

Bonus points: Worcestershire 4, Kent 4

 

Full scorecard available here.

 

Doug Bollinger picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com.

New Road picture supplied by Dan Webster.