Brendan Nash put Kent in control of their County Championship match with Yorkshire with a superb century on the second day.
Facing up to one of the best attacks in domestic cricket, including Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom and Adil Rashid, Kent’s West Indian overseas signing Nash helped his team to a score of 316-6 overnight at Canterbury, as he reached 114 not out by the close, having batted for the best part of two full sessions, leaving the hosts 69 ahead of Yorkshire.
Kent resumed on 4-0 in reply to Yorkshire’s 247, having faced just the one over before the close of play last night, and Scott Newman looked to get some runs on the scoreboard early on, cutting Tim Bresnan away through point for four twice in the second over of the day.
Newman had reached 27, with the score on 31, when Shahzad, coming on as second change bowler, made the breakthrough with the last ball of his first over. The delivery was an excellent one which rose and took a thin edge off Newman’s bat as it went through to wicket-keeper Bairstow.
By this point, Sam Northeast at the other end had made just two as it took him a while to get going. The opener, filling in for Rob Key, had to wait until the 25th over – his 66th ball – for his first boundary, as he and Ben Harmison were able to steer Kent through to lunch on 85-1, by which time Harmison had made 21 and Northeast 20.
The first over after the interval brought nine runs for Kent, but the visitors were celebrating their second wicket before too long – England international Ajmal Shahzad swinging a yorker into the pads of Sam Northeast who departed for 26 from 84 deliveries, ending a partnership of 66.
Harmison was joined at the crease by Brendan Nash, as the tall, former Durham man played a number of nice drives through the off-side, before falling in the 40s for the third time in his first four Kent matches, lbw to Steven Patterson for 43.
This brought Michael Powell to the crease, having made 128 not out and a second-ball duck in his last two innings. This one would be another disappointment for the Welshman, as he departed for just 3, taking a big swipe outside the off stump and edging Ryan Sidebottom to Tim Bresnan at second slip.
With the score at 128-4, Darren Stevens made his way to the crease. Yorkshire had a chance to get him out when he had made just 2, as a flick off his pads in the air towards square leg could have been caught, but the fielders could not quite reach the ball.
He was gone soon after though, lbw to Bresnan for 8, the third ball in a row he had faced from the England seamer which was appealed for leg before, this one plumb and the Kent all-rounder forced to leave the middle with the score at 158-5.
Stand-in skipper Geraint Jones came to the crease with his side needing a good innings or two from their batsmen to ensure a first innings lead, and he didn’t disappoint.
Jones played a number of superb strokes; cover drives, off drives and more as he reached tea on 29, with Kent on 209-5.
By this point Brendan Nash had passed 50 and was looking well set. The former international was the first batsman to reach a half century in the match despite 13 men making double figures by that point.
As the men came back out after tea, Jones continued to impress with a number of wonderful shots, as he and Nash put on 16 more runs in the first two overs after tea. Jones moved onto 47 with two cover drives for four, but then departed before reaching what would have been a well-deserved 50, throwing the bat at a ball from Sidebottom that he could only edge to Ballance in the slips, who took the catch well.
James Tredwell came to the crease to join Nash, and the two brought the scores level as Kent reached 247-6, by which point Nash had made 70. The batsmen brought 250 up next over, securing a fifth bonus point of the game for Kent.
Played slowed down somewhat after Jones’ dismissal, but Nash was still able to move onto 86 with consecutive boundaries, and then cover-drove to go to 95, bringing the 50 partnership up with the same stroke.
The West Indian reached a superb maiden hundred for Kent with another four as the crowd rose to applaud him on a fantastic effort, his century brought up from 156 balls with 14 fours.
The batsmen reached 300 a few overs later to secure their sixth batting point, and were happy enough to play through to the end of the day, reaching 316-6 by the close with the home side leading by 69.
Though Yorkshire’s fielding was at times fairly lacklustre, nothing should be taken away from Nash who worked hard for his century, and will look to push on in the morning. This may be difficult, however, with the weather expected to play more of a part during the final two days of the game, the match having been uninterrupted so far.
KSN caught up with Nash at the close of play. He said: “A hundred at any level of cricket is good – you look at the bowlers that they had there – and it just reiterates to yourself that you still can play this game when certain people tell you that you’re not needed in their set-up, but it’s great to prove it to yourself and to your team –you’ve always got a point to prove so I’m glad I did that quite early, but it is very early like I just said.
“When I first went in the ball was moving around a bit – I think out first three guys definitely did a good job by blunting their attack a little bit, so it made it a little easier for the middle and lower order to put on a partnership.
“The stand in skipper for this game [Geraint Jones] played a vital role as well, and took a lot of pressure off me at that stage. It was a little bit of a sticky situation [when Jones came in] and if we had lost another one or two wickets it would have put us under pressure.
“I’m looking forward to playing quite a lot of cricket, and in a good structure. I haven’t really had too many opportunities [to play limited overs cricket in the West Indies], so I’m looking forward to try and push a claim for future selection in that limited overs stuff.”
Kent side: Newman, Northeast, Harmison, Nash, Powell, Stevens, Jones, Tredwell, Coles, Davies, Shreck.
Yorkshire side: Root, Sayers, Jaques, Gale, Bairstow, Ballance, Bresnan, Rashid, Shahzad, Sidebottom, Patterson.
Close of play on Day 2: Kent 316-6 (Nash 114*, Jones 47, Shahzad 2-54) in reply to Yorkshire 247 all out (Ballance 38, Bresnan 33, Coles 4-70, Stevens 2-39)
Picture by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures, visit www.sarahcanterbury.com