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Batting collapse costs Kent in seven wicket defeat to Northamptonshire in LV= County Championship Division 2

Geraint Jones
Geraint Jones

Only Geraint Jones emerged with any credit as Kent’s batting let them down against Northamptonshire at the St Lawrence Ground on Friday.

Jones scored 57 but watched wickets tumble around him as Kent were dismissed for just 135 in their second innings in three hours on day three.

It meant new skipper James Tredwell’s first game in charge on home soil ended in a seven-wicket defeat to the early pacesetters in LV= County Championship Division 2.

Kent resumed day three on 6-0 and trailed Northants by just 26 runs. But it all went wrong from the moment opener Sam Northeast was trapped in front by Aussie Trent Copeland (5-42) for his overnight score of three.

Northeast is yet to reach 100 runs from six championship innings so far this summer.
Former captain Rob Key went for nine and when Daniel Bell-Drummond was run out by Steven Crook for four, Kent were in trouble at 30-3.

Their woes deepened before lunch as Brendan Nash (14), Tredwell (0) and Matt Coles (6) were all back in the pavilion with the score 70-6 and their lead a slender 44 runs.

Calum Haggett gave Jones good support but both fell in the space of four balls as Kent slipped from 117-6 to 135 all out in 47.1 overs.

Northants lost three wickets in the space of 13 runs in their reply but they were already halfway to their victory target of 104 when Haggett found the first breakthrough.
Tredwell returned figures of 0-10 in 3.3 overs and is still waiting to claim his first wicket of the summer.

Having won the toss and decided to bat first on day one, Kent were indebted to Mike Powell’s 70 and Bell-Drummond’s 68 as they put on 149 for the fourth wicket in the first innings.

But having recovered from 55-3 to 204-3, Kent promptly lost their remaining seven wickets for just 67 runs as Copeland took 5-71.

Kent responded, however, and had the visitors in trouble in their reply.

Charlie Shreck took 4-80 and Mark Davies 3-51 as Northants were 102-4 and then 186-7, still nearly 100 runs behind, despite a century from skipper Stephen Peters.

However, number nine Crook smashed 62 in 79 balls and, by putting on 43 for the final wicket, Northants went beyond Kent’s total and to another bonus batting point on 303 all out.

Kent play three games in five days this week in the YorkshireBank40 competition. They visit Warwickshire Bears today before a televised floodlit game at Nottinghamshire Outlaws on Wednesday and a trip to Holland on Friday.

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