Lancashire 327 (Bohannon 113, Hurst 76*, Balderson 54) and 390 for 8 dec (Wells 117, Bailey 78, Jennings 74, Bohannon 68*) drew with Kent 494 (Denly 136, Compton 95, Balderson 4-69)
Kent are staying in Division One of many LV= Insurance coverage County Championship, after a day of unmitigated, stomach-churning drama at Canterbury. They drew their sport with Lancashire after which confronted an virtually insufferable 80-minute anticipate information from Trent Bridge, the place a Middlesex win would have been sufficient to relegate them.
Jack Leaning and Aron Nijjar took three wickets apiece, however Kent’s failure to complete their opponents off left their supporters sweating on information from Nottingham. The guests closed on 390 for 8, a lead of 223.
Followers and employees, no less than those that may stand to observe, duly crowded spherical laptops and iphones. Kent captain Leaning prowled the balcony, and Director of Cricket Paul Downton stood grinning with the sheer rigidity of all of it.
Each run was cheered, each wicket felt like a depth cost and when Nottinghamshire hit the profitable runs a roar that will nicely have been audible at Trent Bridge was emitted.
The consensus in the beginning of the day was the Kent would most likely be okay, however the phrase “most likely” ended up performing some very heavy lifting.
With seven bonus factors within the financial institution Kent knew they’d be secure if they may match Middlesex’s consequence in opposition to Nottinghamshire, however for the primary hour issues regarded grim, in a couple of sense.
Play started beneath leaden skies, however the seamers made no affect. Lancashire resumed on 126 with out loss and had levelled the scores inside 13 overs.
Wells carved Jack Leaning by level for the 4 that racked up his twenty fourth first-class hundred however ultimately fell when he edged the identical bowler to Daniel Bell-Drummond at slip.
From 194 for 0, Lancashire misplaced 5 wickets for 32 runs. Jennings went in virtually similar trend in Leaning’s subsequent over and Steven Croft ought to have been out to the subsequent ball however he was dropped by Tawanda Muyeye at quick leg.
George Bell flashed at Aron Nijjar and was caught behind for 1. George Balderson drove Leaning to Compton at level and in addition went for 1 and a session that had began so demoralisingly ended on a excessive when Nijjar had Croft caught by Bell-Drummond, leaving Lancashire on 226 for five at lunch.
Matthew Hurst was then out for a duck within the third over after the resumption, skying Yuzvendra Chahal to Nathan Gilchrist at mid-off.
Simply as information of Middlesex’s gutsy declaration filtered by, Chahal switched to the Pavilion Finish and duped Tom Hartley right into a rash shot that was taken by Ben Compton at mid-off for 18.
At that time the lead was beneath 100 and a Kent win no less than regarded attainable however Bohannon and Bailey batted by until tea, by which era Lancashire had been 344 for 7 and there have been solely 27 overs left. Each batters had been dropped, the previous by Harry Finch off Joey Evison, the latter when he supplied Chahal a return catch.
These lapses successfully completed off any lingering probability of a run chase and Kent’s destiny was out of their palms. Bell-Drummond could not cling on when Bohannon edged Leaning however by then virtually everybody in floor was both watching the stream from Trent Bridge, nervously following the rating on their cellphone or, in some instances, praying.
Bailey was caught by Gilchrist off Nijjar simply after he’d handed his highest first-class rating of 77 and Muyeye got here on to bowl for the primary time this season and Ben Compton for the primary time ever as each side went by the motions earlier than shaking palms and heading off to observe the closest accessible stream.
It wasn’t a simple watch, however after almost 90 minutes of hovering blood-pressure and coronary heart palpitations deliverance got here and a wave of aid engulfed the St. Lawrence.
