Kent spinner Adam Riley admitted it had been a “frustrating” day after tail-end runs pegged them back against Leicestershire.

Having reduced Leicestershire from 131-1 to 224-8, Kent were unable to maintain their grip on the game as a ninth wicket partnership of 85 between Anthony Ireland (52 – his highest First Class score) and Jigar Naik (41 not out) put the visitors back in control, closing the day on 333-9.

22-year-old Riley, who took 3-52 from his 19 overs, admitted that the final session, when the pair added the runs, was a tough one for Kent in the field.

“It’s a feeling of frustration, at the end of the day”, he said at the close of play.

“We had them 200-odd for seven, so for them to put on 130-odd more and reach 330 is frustrating. But, it shows that the wicket is improving from what it was.”

After taking six wickets in the afternoon session to leave Leicestershire 208-7 at tea, Riley was disappointed that they weren’t able to keep up the momentum.

“We just had to stay patient and try to do the basics right like we did in the first couple of sessions. Unfortunately we lost our way a little bit, the ball got quite soft before the new ball and we didn’t quite hit the lengths that we wanted to, but [Anthony] Ireland and Jigar Naik played quite well. They played straight, and then hit all the wide stuff.

“It’s frustrating that we couldn’t find the consistency that we needed today, but tomorrow’s another day, so we can hopefully get [the last] one early doors and go out and bat.

“It’s one of those things where you want to go back to tea and start again and try and get those three poles quicker than we have. We’ve got to move on – tomorrow is a new day and it only takes one ball to get us batting.”

The Bexley-born off-spinner was somewhat of a surprise choice for this Kent’s first home Championship game of the season, replacing England spinner James Tredwell. Tredwell is instead playing for the second XI, with Kent saying he is being given the opportunity to make modifications to his action having played limited-overs cricket for England all winter.

“Treddy has obviously gone away to the second team to do some modifications and work on some stuff”, Riley said.

“He was obviously playing a lot of one-day cricket over the winter but the boys backed me. Keysy had a word with me during the week, saying that I was going to play and to carry on doing the things I was doing already. I had a good pre-season with Loughborough and with Kent, and I’ve taken a few wickets already, so I’ve just got to carry on with the work I’ve been doing there.”

Riley was also keen to press the fact that the two spinners had an excellent working relationship, and were hoping to secure spots in the side together later in the season.

“Treddy has got his own issues with the game at the moment, we are all fully confident that he’ll bounce back and he’ll come back to where he was a couple of years ago. In the meantime, it’s a great opportunity for me to show what I can do, and hopefully, if the summer continues to be as warm as it is, there’s every chance that me and Treddy could play in tandem.

“We had training on Saturday, and Treddy was down here doing some work and he came up to me and said “good luck”, shook my hand and gave me a pat on the back, which was nice, because it’s the first time it’s happened, so I didn’t know how it was going to go down. He’s ever the professional, and he took it really well.

“The guys are all backing him to come back and we know he will.”

 

Pictures supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com.