Kent batsman Sean Dickson was delighted after his unbeaten double century helped his side to a comeback County Championship win at Derbyshire.

South African-born Dickson made a fantastic unbeaten 207 in Kent’s first innings; his first three-figure score since signing for the county last year. His knock played a huge part in deciding the outcome of the game, as he carried his bat through the whole of the innings, helping Kent to avoid the follow-on as they reached a total of 412, in reply to the hosts’ 492.

The Kent bowlers then came to the fore, dismissing their opponents for just 94 in their second dig, then completing a seven-wicket win to pull off a remarkable victory – Kent’s second of the season in the Championship, taking them to second place in the Division Two table.

Dickson’s double hundred was the first of his career, but the 24-year-old was just pleased that it had come in a winning cause.

“It was just the win that made it feel a whole lot better”, Dickson told KSN.

“During the innings, I never once thought I was batting for a chance for the team to win – at one stage it looked like a dead rubber game. It was just nice to get in, pitch my tent and go from there.”

Dickson batted with every single one of his teammates at the other end in his innings, building partnerships throughout as he continued to put runs on the board.

He shared a vital stand with Matt Coles for the eighth wicket which saw Kent avoid the follow-on and push on towards the Derbyshire total.

“There are times when you get into partnerships and those partnerships get you to match winning performances”, Dickson said.

“In this case, I think the highest partnership was 97 with Colesy. By that stage, we were seven or eight down, so I’d pretty much batted with the whole team by then. Everyone else got in and then got out, so it was nice to stick around and carry the bat, but was even better to win the game and be a part of it.”

The Johannesburg-born bat also paid tribute to the efforts of the bowling attack who skittled the hosts in the second innings; taking three quick wickets on the evening of the third day before bowling them out before lunch on the morning of the fourth.

“It was just remarkable”, Dickson said.

“Matt Coles in particular, coming in in that night session and just getting two wickets, and then Treds [James Tredwell] getting a wicket and they were three down – it put us in the driving seat going into the final day.”

Dickson also singled out Calum Haggett, whose efforts on the final morning saw him finish with career-best figures of 4-15, all four of his wickets coming via lbw decisions. Dickson said that his time at the crease allowed him to help the bowlers clarify their plans with the ball.

“That final spell he had was unbelievable”, he said of 25-year-old Haggett.

“The Derbyshire bowlers – all credit to them – they stuck to one plan, and that was straight. The wicket was so up and down that a few balls went underground! It was very difficult to score, and when I came off, I just said straight away, we have to go wicket to wicket and we can’t give any width. Anything that was straight, I couldn’t score, but as soon as they went a touch wide, I looked to just try and get something on it, because that’s the only way we could actually score.

“I tried to encourage our bowlers to go straight, and once Calum got his lines right and got his plans right, he went straight, and if they missed, we hit. It worked out really well.”

“They were all pretty much dead plum”, Dickson said of the lbw decisions. “It was just a remarkable spell from him and Tredwell.”