Beyond the Boundary: Kent's Darren Stevens writes exclusively for the KM Group
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Everyone in our dressing room was
thoroughly disappointed after losing against Hampshire on
Sunday.
We had wickets in hand and should have
won the game. Maybe the batters should have communicated a bit more
out in the middle and we should have looked to take a few more
risks.
I think we went 13 overs when we
didn’t hit a boundary. Saying that, it wasn’t an easy pitch and it
was tough out there in the middle and hard for us watching in the
pavilion.
We had a couple of days off this week
but were in on Wednesday and the first chance to talk about what
happened and how we can correct it in the future.
We left Taunton last week, relieved
not to lose in the championship because there was a chance it might
go that way on the final afternoon.
It was a strange game in many ways.
The batsmen always look forward to going there but it was an
indifferent wicket there this time.
It was green on the first day and both
sides were undecided about what to do. Jarre won the toss and put
them in but when they were 101-1 we had our backs to the wall. He
was looking for a partnership breaker and threw the ball to me and
it started to swing from the start.
I had Marcus Trescothick leg before
and then picked up two in one over. I then got another which was
pleasing. The only disappointing thing was missing out on my first
five-for in championship cricket.
Getting them out for 205 put us in a
great position and we wanted to bat well, get a big lead and be
able to dominate the game. But Murali Kartik took 10 wickets in the
match and did brilliantly against us in both innings.
I rate him as the best slow left-arm
spinner in the world. He is a canny operator and it was smart
bowling.
It was hard to decide how to play him
on the last day but Jonesy and Tredders did well helping us to save
the game, mopping up a lot of balls and it would have done both
guys’ confidence a power of good.
Jarre’s led the side while Keysy is
nursing his broken finger and both have their own ways of doing the
job.
Jarre is a very aggressive captain –
always looking for catches to go everywhere – and a little more
‘old school’.
Rob is also quite aggressive as a
skipper but the dressing room is noisier when he is around.
Essex are at Canterbury this week in
the Championship and having four out of our last six at home is
massive. We haven’t done brilliantly in the four-day game this
season but we want everyone behind the team to keep backing us.
We want to win every game but,
realistically, two out of those four would be great.
Essex are a good all-round side and
Ravi Bopara will play after being left out of the England squad for
the First Test against Pakistan. He scored two hundreds last week
and is in great form.
Thursday, July 29 2010
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