County Championship 2024. Division 1. Kent v Somerset. 5^th, 6^th, 7^th  and 8^th April Canterbury.

Jack Leach, (knee injury), Craig Overton (back), Tom Abell (hamstring) were all unavailable.

Kent. B.G. Compton, T. S. Muyeye, D.J. Bell-Drummond (c), J.A. Leaning, J.L. Denly, H.Z. Finch J.D.M. Evison, W.A. Agar, N.N. Gilchrist, M.W. Parkinson, G.A. Garrett.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, M.T. Renshaw, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), K.L. Aldridge, J.H. Davey, E. O. Leonard, J. Ball.

Overnight. Kent 284. Somerset 374 for 7. Somerset lead by 90 runs with three first innings wickets standing.  

Final day 8^th April – And the labrador slept on

That Tom Banton ended up bowling the final overs of the day from the Nackington Road End, and a labrador, fast asleep at its owner’s feet, had, by that time, more life in it than the cricket, tells you most of what you need to know about the final day, at least after lunch. However, the first day having been lost to rain, and given Somerset’s history of poor starts to the season, most Somerset supporters were satisfied with the outcome. Above all, the top order had produced runs in early April, albeit on a white pitch. There were also 15 points on the board, enough to secure second place in the embryonic Division One table. Further bonuses were Tom Lammonby looking comfortable in his number three shoes and Kasey Aldridge looking a better bowler than he had hitherto whilst still performing well with the bat. Early days to judge it was true, but it at least brought hope that progress was being made. As to the weather for the final day, the cloud was white and high, thin enough for the sun to cast weak shadows. In its sallow glow, its warmth could be felt, but in the shade a chill wind still blew. There was little in the conditions to encourage Somerset hopes.

The first hour had brought some hope for Somerset. Their final three wickets had added 29 runs in six overs, enough for a fourth batting point. As to those three wickets, Aldridge had finally succumbed to a pull off Nathan Gilchrist and was caught at midwicket by Jack Leaning jumping high and diagonally. Aldridge 57. Boundaries were difficult to come by with five fielders back and Ned Leonard was run out for one by a direct hit from Daniel Bell-Drummond while attempting a quick single. Not running his bat through the crease perhaps made the difference. Jake Ball had managed to hit Gilchrist straight and high. Had the ball had a little more carry I might have been foolish enough to attempt a crowd catch in the top of the Frank Woolley Stand. I would not have had to leave my seat. As it was, I was relieved to see the ball fall just short of me and disappear beneath the front of the stand. Then, with Josh Davey on 16, scored mainly in singles and twos, Ball attempted a hook against Gilchrist and pulled the ball onto his stumps for seven to make way for the real business of the day, the Kent second innings.

Kent began their innings in the face of a Somerset lead of 119 and a minimum of 87 overs to be bowled. The innings began with a double breakthrough by Ball and Davey. Ball slipped, or let slip, a ball down the leg side to Ben Compton who attempted to glance. The ball deflected, Rew took off full stretch and caught it at ground level. Compton seemed unhappy with the decision, but Kent were 10 for 1. Compton 3. Four balls later, Tawanda Muyeye cut Davey straight to Tom Banton at point. Kent 10 for 2. Muyeye 7. Deficit 109.

But that was virtually the end of Somerset hope. It died quickly as the Kent batters settled and the Somerset bowlers soon lost any hint of penetration. In the 12 overs to lunch there were three leg before wicket appeals, but only one was made with conviction, and the bat was beaten twice. Much more evident was the security in the batting and the sureness of stroke in the scoring on a pitch now completely lacking in life. Jack Leaning was to the fore for Kent with Bell-Drummond firmly in support. In the fifty minutes to lunch, Leaning reached the boundary seven times and carried it once. Twice in an over, he drove Ball for four, once square and once through the covers. “Oh! Good shot!” the comment, while Ned Leonard was driven through the off side to the Lime Tree Café and square for two more fours. The stroke of the morning though came when Leaning cut Gregory through point and cleared the boundary.

In the final over before the interval, Aldridge did manage to generate some lift and hit Bell-Drummond on the helmet. On ran the physio to check the helmet and carry out concussion tests. As he looked into Bell-Drummond’s eyes and spoke to him, someone asked, “Do you know what questions they ask?” “Who is the Prime Minister?” the sardonic reply. Cue laughter as people feigned trying to remember the names of the three prime ministers the country had had in the previous 18 months. Bell-Drummond must have been up with his Prime Ministers for he was cleared to continue. Kent reached lunch on 68 for 2 at precisely four runs an over which gives some indication of the ease of batting since the fall of the second wicket. Somerset were still 61 ahead, but I doubt many thought a positive result possible.

My lunchtime circumnavigation ran into the afternoon session, not so much because of the chat that took place but because I was taking in the ambiance of the ground. It remains little changed from my first visit in 1974, apart from some flats, outside the ground but on ground which was then inside the perimeter. My visit in 1974 was for an epic Gillette Cup semi-final which Kent won by three wickets after a gargantuan battle as Somerset almost defended a total of 154 made in 58 overs, Kent winning in 52.3 overs. Different times. For cricket at least. Apart from the flats and the small Cowdrey Stand and the Lime Tree Café at either end of the Woolley Stand-Pavilion complex, little had changed in the ground. The large landscape scoreboard above the Ames Stand is still manually operated, the only one I have witnessed in recent years.

As I walked and sat my way around, I kept a watchful eye on the cricket. I was barely halfway round, standing next to the Nackington Road End sight screen when, in the second over after lunch, Lewis Goldsworthy, bowling his slow left arm spin from the Pavilion End, bowled Leaning as he lunged forward. Kent 68 for 3. Leaning 32. It was Goldsworthy’s first over. Hope briefly rekindled, I continued to the new lime tree, planted to replace the original lime, felled in 2005 after it was irrevocably damaged in a storm. The new lime is at the very edge of the ground in front of the flats, just beyond the location of the original. The old one was often inside the boundary, as it was for that Gillette Cup match in 1974 when I stood near it to watch, every seat taken by the time I had penetrated the traffic on the way to the ground.

In the middle, Kent were soon putting the morning and Leaning’s wicket into perspective. In the space of an over, Denly drove Goldsworthy for four twice, and Bell-Drummond added another. Not knowing when I might have the opportunity to visit Canterbury again because of the vagaries of the modern fixture list with two divisions and not all teams in the First Division playing each other home and away, I sat outside the Lime Tree Café for a final cake and drink. In the middle, Goldsworthy persevered, but Kent were scoring at five an over, Bell-Drummond paddle sweeping him fine for four as they went. I walked quickly on behind the Pavilion to miss as little cricket as possible and arrived next to the Cowdrey Stand in time to see Denly hook a Leonard no ball for four. Kent, it seemed were cruising. By the time I reached my seat they had reached 133 for 3, to lead by 18 runs with the afternoon session fast approaching its halfway point. The ball was not remotely troubling them. Had the match been being played in a hospital ward, it would have been on life support.

Denly meanwhile was very much alive and taking advantage of the lack of pressure. Four times in two overs he struck the ball to the boundary. Off Lewis Gregory he reached his fifty with a neatly guided ball which ran safely between slip and gully. A clip off his toes off Leonard perfectly bisected the fine and long leg fielders. Later in the over, Bell-Drummond pulled between the same two fielders for four more. Gregory tried Matt Renshaw’s leg spin. In his second over he beat Denly, the ball beating Rew too and running for four byes. It caused gasps in the crowd, but it changed nothing. Kent still pushed and steered singles, often ‘agreed’ ones as the ball ran to a deep fielder, and Bell-Drummond went to his fifty with a steer through backward point off Gregory.

The ball was barely beating the bat at all now and Somerset were trying the sort of response in vogue on flat pitches. They placed three short mid-ons for Ball but still two singles and a two came from the over with no hint of threat to Kent. In the 11 overs to tea even the batters seemed to pick up the lazy afternoon mood and the scoring slowed. Singles and twos, run at a leisurely pace, passed across the scene and produced 29 runs. The ball only made it to the boundary twice and the possibility of a wicket barely entered the consciousness. It all left Kent on 228 for 3 at tea, 109 runs ahead. It was a dead match drifting to its close in the time-honoured way. The niceties were observed to a T, the die hard supporters remained in their seats, the labrador asleep at the feet of one, as the rest drifted away. I packed up my things, slung my backpack over my shoulder and became an itinerant watcher.

After tea, the cricket looked very much like the cricket before tea. Most travelling Somerset supporters stayed. Generally, they were relieved at Somerset’s excellent performance in their first innings. Most said they could not have hoped for more in a three-day match on a flat pitch. There were some concerns about the impact of the kookaburra ball on competitive cricket in England, but for the moment, Somerset’s performance overrode that. In terms of following Somerset around the country, a fairly common comment was that the price of hotels had increased significantly over the previous two years, and some wondered if that had contributed, alongside the rail strikes, to the lower turnout of Somerset supporters at this match.

As to the cricket, it was a pleasant enough backdrop to the conversation but no more. Tom Banton bowled an over to allow Goldsworthy to change ends, then Goldsworthy and Renshaw bowled in tandem, presumably to protect the pace bowlers. Denly and Bell-Drummond pushed the ball around at will. Then, as if to relieve the monotony, Denly hit Goldsworthy for a straight six to the Nackington Road End, while Bell-Drummond late cut Renshaw to the Cowdrey Stand. The labrador looked long into its sleep as the singles and periodic boundaries pushed Kent along at five runs an over, although to my now detached mind it didn’t seem like it and Bell-Drummond played a cut for four off Renshaw which looked as lazy as the afternoon felt. The 200 partnership was reached in 233 balls according to the announcement and there was a ripple of polite applause. Denly attempted to drive Goldsworthy and edged the ball past the slips for two to register his century, but there were barely 150 in the ground to see it. Bell-Drummond followed soon after, driving Goldsworthy through the off side to register his century.

And then, with the match struggling to reach the earliest time at which hands could be shaken, drinks were taken. “Drinks?” someone asked with some incredulity, but they saved the bowlers an over. And then, the inevitable. As the match crawled towards ten to five, the earliest at which it could be anaesthetised, Banton replaced Renshaw. An occasional bowler replaced by a hardly ever one. And the final twist, two balls before the match was called off, Denly came forward to Goldsworthy and edged him straight to Renshaw at slip. Kent 290 for 4. Lead 171. Harry Finch walked out, faced two balls, walked off again, the labrador had to be awoken from its slumbers and another cricket season was underway.

Result. Kent 284 (J.D.M. Evison 85, H.Z Finch 54, L. Gregory 4-66) and 290 for 4 (J.L. Denly 110, D.J. Bell-Drummond 107*). Somerset 403 (T.A. Lammonby 90, M.T. Renshaw 66, J.E.K. Rew 57, K.L. Aldridge 57, N.N. Gilchrist 3-64). Match drawn. Somerset 15 points. Kent 12 points.