A brilliant bowling performance saw Kent take complete control of their County Championship match with Derbyshire at Canterbury.
15 wickets fell in the day as a great team effort with the ball saw Derbyshire dismissed for just 115 in their first innings, before the follow-on was enforced and Kent picked up another two wickets before the close.
The visitors then slipped to 32-3 in their second innings by stumps, still trailing Kent by 186 runs with two days’ play remaining, and the home side in a wonderful position to pick up their second County Championship win of the season.
The visitors first innings fell to pieces in an afternoon session that saw Derbyshire collapse as Kent took eight wickets for 65 runs, including a spell of 6-19 in 71 deliveries at one stage.
Captain Rob Key was able to utilise his four main bowlers to fantastic effect on a wearing pitch; all of them chipping in with wickets; off-spinner Adam Riley the pick of the attack in Derbyshire’s first knock with 4-30, while Darren Stevens currently has five across the two innings.
Key will now hope that his attack can continue to cause problems for the Derbyshire batsmen going into day three, as they look to once again knock them over cheaply and go for the win.
Having resumed day two on 259-8, Adam Ball and Robbie Joseph batted impressively in the morning; Kent’s tail wagging to good effect.
21-year-old Ball has been in good form with the bat, registering scores of 42 and 50 in the loss at Glamorgan last week, and he made 30 here before being bowled by the spin of David Wainwright.
He and Joseph had added an excellent 59 together, picking up a third batting bonus point for Kent in the process, with Joseph (29 not out) also putting on 27 for the final wicket with Doug Bollinger; the Australian eventually stumped off his former international teammate Marcus North for 19.
That brought Kent’s innings to a close on 333 – a decent enough score, with the plaudits going to Daniel Bell-Drummond who made 101 for his maiden County Championship century, and the lower order whose runs boosted the total in fine fashion.
Visiting openers Stephen Moore and Paul Borrington were able to see out five overs before lunch, but Moore (4) fell just five balls after the interval, flashing wide outside off-stump off Doug Bollinger, and feathering a catch through to wicket-keeper Sam Billings.
At that stage, Kent would have been happy enough just to have made the breakthrough, but little did they know of the enthralling afternoon session that they were about to enjoy.
When Darren Stevens had Paul Borrington (8) edging to Ben Harmison in the 11th over, it started a wonderful period for the Kent attack, in which six wickets would fall for the addition of just 19 runs.
Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen (7) played on and lost his leg stump to Bollinger, while Scott Elstone made a 26-ball duck before becoming Riley’s first wicket, gloving a catch to Stevens at slip.
Elstone’s wicket was also the first of four to fall in as many consecutive overs, as Alex Hughes and Gareth Cross, coming in at six and seven, also both made ducks. Stevens had Hughes caught in the slips by Adam Ball, and Cross was caught by Fabian Cowdrey at short leg off a looping bat-pad chance.
When Wainwright was lbw for 1 to give Stevens his third victim, the visitors found themselves in a dreadful mess at 56-7, still trailing Kent by 277 runs at that stage, and having lost seven wickets for 38 runs in the session to that point.
Robbie Joseph also got in on the wicket-taking act before tea, bowling Marcus North for a gritty 18, as Derbyshire brought the session to a close on 83-8; Kent having completely taken control of the match from when the visitors were 18-0 at lunch.
Tony Palladino, who finished with figures of 5-62 with the ball, made 24, second only to “Extras”, which accumulated 29 in the innings, but he found Joseph off Riley on the midwicket boundary not long into the evening session.
The 22 that Tom Taylor and Mark Footitt then put on for the final wicket was in fact the highest partnership of Derbyshire’s first knock, with Footitt the last man out, giving Riley his fourth wicket with Harmison taking a catch on the rope.
Riley ended as the pick of the bowlers for Kent, with 4-30, although he was fantastically supported by the other three used – Stevens taking 3-25, Bollinger 2-20 and Joseph 1-27.
All out for 115, and still trailing by 218 runs, Derbyshire found themselves being asked to follow-on by Kent captain Rob Key, with 19 overs still remaining in the second day.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their misery was not to end there, as Darren Stevens picked up the first two wickets of their second innings in a nine-over spell before the close.
He dismissed Borrington for the second time in just over three hours, Riley completing a good catch in the slips, before Moore was trapped lbw for 14 by a delivery that appeared to keep low.
Tom Taylor came in as nightwatchman, but with Brendan Nash thrown the ball for the final over, he rounded off just about a perfect day for Kent by having him edge to Stevens at slip for 2.
Captain Wayne Madsen remained at the crease, with his side closing on 32-3, still 186 runs behind Kent with seven wickets in hand.
Stumps, day two: Kent vs. Derbyshire, LV= County Championship Division Two, The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury, 22-25 June 2014:
Derbyshire 32-3 following on (Stevens 2-17) and 115 (Riley 4-30, Stevens 3-25) trail Kent 333 (Bell-Drummond 101, Stevens 45; Palladino 5-54) by 186 runs
Kent: Bell-Drummond, Key*, Harmison, Nash, Cowdrey, Stevens, Billings†, Ball, Riley, Joseph, Bollinger
Derbyshire: Moore, Borrington, Madsen*, North, Elstone, Hughes, Cross†, Wainwright, Palladino, Taylor, Footitt
Kent won the toss and elected to bat
Bonus points: Kent 6, Derbyshire 2
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