Tom Westley and Nick Browne both hit centuries as Essex advanced to 289 for one on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship game with Kent at Canterbury.
Westley scored a swashbuckling, unbeaten 138, which contrasted with Browne’s more measured 105 not out, but for the second day running conditions halted Essex’s progress, with just 32 overs possible.
Kent’s bowlers toiled again and Westley and Browne have now put on an unbeaten 246 for the second wicket.
Almost incessant overnight rain left the St. Lawrence outfield saturated, wiping out the entire morning session, but conditions slowly improved.
Essex were on 164 for one when play finally got started at 3.15 pm and they carried on where they’d left off on day one, scoring at four an over, with only the occasional alarm.
Westley reached three figures, from 129 balls, with a violent straight drive off Conor McKerr that flew to the Pavilion End boundary and it was 245 for one at tea, the duo having added 81 without loss in 22 overs.
Browne took almost twice as long to pass three figures, hitting his 236th delivery, from Hamid Qadri, for two through the covers. Browne’s form had dipped since his biblical 238 not out against Somerset last July and this was the first time he’d made even a half-century in 14 innings. His relief on making his century was transparent and Westley gave him a bear hug to celebrate the landmark.
The leaden skies encouraged him to accelerate and he smacked a four off Evison before bad light forced the players off at 5:40 pm.
With the rain falling once again play was subsequently abandoned for the day and just 74 overs have been bowled over days one and two.
Essex’s Tom Westley said: “It’s always nice to score a hundred. It’s been a bit frustrating this season getting 40s. I’d sort of carried on my form from last year, getting starts and a few 50s, so I’m pleased to get a few runs and obviously pleased for Brownie as well. It’s a shame about the weather but I think we’re in a strong position.
“I think it’s a good wicket. I think by their own admission they probably didn’t bowl as well as they would have liked with the new ball and hopefully if we get it right with the new ball we can create a few chances, but so far it’s been a really good batting wicket.
“We’re trying to be a bit more positive as a batting unit and Chef (Alastair Cook) has taken it to another level. I was joking with him that if he was in now he’d probably be on about 350. Maybe he’s making a late push for an England call-up, or recall!
“I was fortunate, I think, that I got a few bad balls early on that got me going. In the past, when I’ve been at my best I’ve played quite positively and maybe I went away from that a little bit in the last 12 months. I’m really fortunate it’s paid off so far.
“You sometimes do need someone to anchor the batting and I think Brownie’s done that exceptionally well. We’re (now) trying to get as many runs as quickly as we possibly can so we can get some bonus points batting which we’ve been a bit short of this year and then get bowling. We need to take 20 wickets, which is going to be a challenge, but you never know.”
Kent’s Matthew Walker said: “It’s been a stop-start game so far and the weather’s got the better of us unfortunately, but we find ourselves in a not dissimilar position to last week. We’re behind in the game, we haven’t bowled as well as we should have done and they’ve batted pretty well on a pretty good surface.
“I thought Wes Agar was outstanding, I thought he really showed how to bowl, on that surface with good pace and good carry. He kept going and was a real threat all day, we just couldn’t back it up at the other end unfortunately. No one else seemed to get in any rhythm or put any pressure on and it became pretty easy batting for the for the most part.
“It’s the same problem as at Warwickshire. We just didn’t bowl enough balls in the right areas, it’s a simple as that. Our length percentage was well down, we bowled both sides of the wicket again and it showed on that wicket. There’s not much margin for error and if you stray from a good area you get punished.
“The numbers tell the story really, although you don’t need the numbers, you can just watch it and you can see that we were well short. There were very few passages when we gained control or put pressure on. When we did we looked a bit of a threat but it just wasn’t enough.
“The bowlers are trying. There’s a lot of talk around where we want to bowl, it’s not rocket science. We try to get the ball in the right area over and over again, they are trying but they’ve not been able to do it and that unfortunately is a lack of execution, which followed in from last week.
“It’s frustrating because against Northants we were very good and got the rewards, but in the last two games we’ve been well short and against two really good batters you’re going to get punished. The will is there but the execution’s not.
“The honest truth is that from this position it’s unlikely we can win this game. We go into day three, they’re still batting and I suspect they’ll keep going and try to get a big score, put pressure on us and try and bowl us out twice.”