Kent batted excellently through the second day at Tunbridge Wells to dominate and surpass Essex’s first innings score and amass a 160 run lead going into day three to put them firmly in the box seat.

Ben Harmison got in the runs ending the day 63no with his compatriot Darren Stevens 69no in an unbeaten partnership of 117 runs as Kent’s batsmen made the most of the conditions.

Despite losing fifteen minutes at the start of play on day two, Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond and Rob Key continued in earnest as they did the evening before.

It didn’t take long for Bell-Drummond to move onto a well deserved half-century with a four through mid-wicket (41 balls, 11 4s; 73/0).

And seeing through a successful and untroubled opening half hour which saw thirty-eight runs from seven overs the opening pair brought up their hundred partnership (Bell-Drummond 71no, Key 27no) – Kent’s first century opening partnership this season.

However a century for Bell-Drummond wasn’t to be as he chased a wide-ish delivery from Jesse Ryder which saw the ball cannon into his stumps – The opener out for a fine 81, Kent 127/1.

Joe Denly received a stroke of luck on no score as wicket-taker Ryder dropped the new batsman at first slip – A low chance to his left with an expectation it was gettable.

With that Kent saw out the opening hours play 134/1 effectively 66/1 off fourteen overs for the session.

Key and Denly dug in and scored freely making the most of the occasional bad ball and with it Key followed Bell-Drummond with a half-century of his own (89 balls, 7 4s).

In the run-up to lunch Key and Denly showed composure and good technique as they brought about a fifty partnership of their own and at lunch Kent found themselves 186/1 – A very good session for the hosts with the loss of a solitary wicket.

It wasn’t long into the afternoon session for Kent to bring up their first batting point however moments later the second wicket fell.

Rob Key, playing a shot out of character with his innings, lofted a shot off his legs for a simple catch to Nick Browne at square-leg off the bowling of Graham Napier (71, 200/2), ending a partnership with Joe Denly of seventy-three runs

With the loss of Key, Kent began to rebuild and push on with Denly and new batsman and captain Sam Northeast although runs were hard to come by unlike the earlier sessions for the hosts.

Northeast and Denly proved resilient to the task picking off runs from loose balls whilst under little pressure or danger.

Mid-session it was milestones galore for Kent as Denly brought up his 40^th first class half century (93 balls, eight 4s) followed shortly after by the hosts’ second batting point which also conveniently brought up the fifty partnership for Denly and Northeast.

Kent soon brought about a first innings lead with Denly then hitting a six over bowler Ravi Patel’s head at the Railway End but Kent’s captain soon relented as he was clean bowled by Jamie Porter (43, 271/3). Denly still there 63no.

Ben Harmison, coming in under pressure to make a score, played solid defence when needed early on but when given the opportunity confidently struck a number of boundaries early into his innings.

With Harmison striking boundaries Kent brought up an additional batting point surpassing three hundred but as with an earlier batting point the hosts lost a wicket with it as Joe Denly playing around a straight one from loan spinner Ravi Patel, clean bowled (69, 303/4)

Harmison and new man Darren Stevens saw out the remaining few overs before tea, Stevens notably striking two successive fours off Patel shortly before the interval, with Kent 317/4 – A first innings lead of 57.

Resuming after tea Harmison and Stevens came out and faced six trouble-free overs before a brief delay for rain took the players off.

Returning to the field, Essex took the new ball and with its introduction Kent’s batsmen found it difficult to get the ball away for runs to extend their lead.

Safely negotiating the early new ball overs Harmison and Stevens added runs to firstly take Kent past the three-fifty mark but then past three-sixty landing the hosts a psychological boost and a lead in excess of one-hundred.

Stevens suddenly hit the accelerator as he struck Porter for four successive boundaries in which he brought up another half century from 64 balls with eight fours and one maximum.

Stevens’ half century effort was soon matched by Harmison who, with a boundary, brought up his own milestone.

Harmison had plugged away, showing great patience, scoring his fifty off 119 balls with eight boundaries – An important innings for the Kent batsman.

With runs coming more freely and confidence high with half centuries for each, Stevens and Harmison brought up the hosts’ four-hundred, followed by the one-hundred partnership between the two.

With the time approaching 1830 and a lead of 160 the players came off the field for bad light and with the umpires taking out the stumps that was it for the day.

Kent closed the days play having batted throughout in turn ending the day on 420/4 – Harmison 63 not out, Stevens 69 not out – An excellent days play for the hosts.

Joe Denly, one of Kent’s five half-century makers, said at the close: “We were very good yesterday at boring the Essex batters out. It’s that type of pitch, you have to dry up the runs and play the patience game before you get your rewards.

“With the bat we stopped them bowling in partnerships today. With the likes of Masters and Ryder, they usually build up the dot balls at both ends, but we managed to get our batting partnerships going, which was vital.

“The century stand between ‘Keysy’ and ‘Deebs’ made life so much easier for me and the middle-order guys coming in. I was upset to get out having done all the hard work, I played a bit of a lazy shot against the spinner, but it had been a tough pitch to score quickly on.”

 

Kent: Bell-Drummond, Denly, Key, Northeast ©, Harmison, Stevens, Billings (w), Haggett, Tredwell, Claydon, Hunn

Essex: Browne, Mickleburgh, Westley, Bopara, Ryder, ten Doeschate, Foster © (w), Napier, Masters, Porter, Patel

Essex:

260 (Westley 77, ten Doeschate 54, Bopara 42; Stevens 4/37, Haggett 3/54, Hunn 2/78 – Billings 5 catches)

 

Kent:

420/4 (Bell-Drummond 81, Key 71, Denly 69, Stevens 69*, Harmison 63*)

 

Kent: 7pts

Essex: 2pts