Ashwell Prince’s century frustrated Kent on the opening day of their final match of the season against Lancashire at Canterbury.
Former South Africa international Prince hit the 35th first class three-figure score of his career, compiling an unbeaten 134 as the Division Two champions reached 269-8 at the close of play.
With the pitch not looking all that easy to settle on, the Lancashire batsman’s knock looked all that more impressive, having helped his side to a total that you would not expect the Kent batsmen to equal all that easily, particularly with cloudy conditions forecast for the second day.
While the Kent bowlers plugged away and picked up wickets at regular intervals throughout the day, including a maiden first-class scalp for debutant Matt Hunn, none could dislodge Prince, who looked relatively untroubled during his six-hour stay at the crease.
James Tredwell had won the toss in his side’s final match of the 2013 season, and had chosen to bowl on a morning where the start of play was delayed for 15 minutes due to heavy fog.
Mark Davies started things off perfectly for Kent, dismissing visiting captain Paul Horton for a duck. The opener was caught one-handed at second slip by Darren Stevens off just the second ball of the match, having edged the first just short of the slip cordon.
19-year-old debutant Hunn opened the bowling alongside Davies. The former Kent and Sussex 2nd XI right-arm fast-medium bowler’s signing was only announced by Kent yesterday, but the Colchester-born youngster bowled at a good pace while extracting some bounce from the pitch. His first ball reared up and hit Luis Reece on the splice of the bat, causing him to signal to the pavilion for a replacement, while the opening pair kept the Lancashire batsmen quiet in the early stages.
After Prince had passed the milestone of 15,000 first-class runs in the ninth over of the innings, the going seemed to get slight easier for Lancashire, as the former-South African international began to find the boundary more regularly.
A double bowling change did the trick for Kent, however, when Adam Ball bowled Luis Reece for 14, the young left-armer drawing the batsman into the drive before knocking back his off stump, leaving Lancashire 47-2.
Karl Brown joined Prince at the crease, and the pair saw their side through to lunch on 77-2, although it was not without incident, as edges were found, first off Ball, and then James Tredwell’s first delivery. Both were tough chances but neither stuck, as Prince and Brown made their way back to the Pavilion on 31 and 19 respectively.
In the spell after the break, the pitch seemed to play more kindly for the batsmen, as Prince and Brown went about their business without any real alarms. The pair had put on a partnership of 71 when Brown edged Darren Stevens behind and Sam Billings took an impressive, tumbling catch to dismiss the batsman for 42, with Lancashire 118-3.
Luke Procter joined Prince at the crease; the South African continuing on past fifty and keeping his side ticking along. As wickets fell around him, Prince stood firm in the penultimate innings of a season in which he has been ever-present for the red rose county, featuring in all 16 of their Championship games.
Procter was dropped on 3 by Northeast – one of a number of tough chances put down in the field by Kent during the day – but was on his way back to the hutch for just 8 shortly afterwards, Tredwell picking up his first victim of the day as Stevens took a good diving catch.
Andrea Agathangelou was the next man to join Prince in the middle, and after hitting Tredwell back over his head for six with one of the shots of the day, was also out shortly before tea. He shouldered arms to an Adam Ball delivery that just nipped back into him and was bowled for 13, leaving Lancashire 166-5.
Tom Smith came to the crease with Prince to see Lancashire to tea on 176-5, but went without particularly troubling the scorers after the break. On 10, he edged James Tredwell to a tumbling Darren Stevens at slip, who clung on for a good catch, leaving Lancashire 193-6, and the Kent skipper with his 350th first-class wicket.
Shortly afterwards, Prince completed an excellently compiled century, his second of the season, this one coming from 215 balls and featuring 14 fours. Having arrived at the crease for the third ball of the day, Prince’s solid innings saw the visitors score continue to tick along despite wickets falling at regular intervals.
Prince continued alongside Alex Davies until Kent took the new ball after 80 overs, and the pair pushed the Lancashire total up to 239, when Davies was removed by his namesake Mark for 16, caught at first slip by Tredwell.
Back into the attack shortly before the close, Matt Hunn claimed his first victim in first-class cricket when Oliver Newby slapped a short delivery straight to Ben Harmison at cover for 1.
Stephen Parry was the penultimate man in for the visitors, and saw out pay to the close alongside Prince, who finished with an unbeaten 134 from 280 balls.
Had Kent removed Prince early as they did with the majority of the rest of the Lancashire batting line-up, they’d have been confident of ending their season with a victory, but the South African’s gritty, hard-working innings has put the visitors in the driving seat going into day two.
Kent: Northeast, Key, Bell-Drummond, Nash, Harmison, Stevens, Billings, Ball, Tredwell, Davies, Hunn.
Lancashire: Horton, Reece, Prince, Brown, Procter, Agathangelou, Smith, Davies, Newby, Parry, Jarvis.
Stumps, day one, Kent vs. Lancashire, LV= County Championship Division Two, Canterbury, 24-27 September 2013:
Lancashire 269-8 (Prince 134 not out, Brown 42; Davies 2-26, Ball 2-42)