Poor weather frustrates Kent and Foxes
Wed 1 Jun 2016
Kent versus Leicestershire, Specsavers County Championship, Day 4:
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE
INTERVIEW | Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald speaks to BBC Radio Leicester’s Richard Rae HERE
REPORT | A combination of persistent rain and poor light put paid to the final seven sessions of what had started out as a hard-fought and evenly contested Specsavers County Championship match between Kent and Leicestershire.
Having had the entirety of day three wiped out, match umpires Paul Pollard and Alex Wharf faced the problem of overnight precipitation followed by constant drizzle and a heavier burst of rain that left the Canterbury outfield sodden and unplayable today.
The officials finally made the inevitable call to abandon the match as a draw at 1pm, with both sides taking eight points apiece from the five sessions that were playable.
Although the outcome of a fourth weather-affected draw in six matches was ultimately disappointing, Leicestershire produced an impressive response to the defeat against Worcestershire.
County has now lost just twice in 11 Specsavers County Championship games in 2015-16 and the first innings scores in seven first-class matches this season has been 427, 401-9 dec, 473-8 dec, 332, 375-5 dec, 316 and 341.
The highlight for Leicestershire was a record fourth-wicket stand against Kent between skipper Mark Cosgrove (119) and white ball captain Mark Pettini (97).
The pair added 218 in 51.4 overs to pass their club’s previous best of 162, set by Albert Lord and JH King at Leicestershire’s Aylestone Road Ground in 1923.
Having put 341 on the board, the team also bowled with good discipline in limiting Kent to 117-2 in 44 overs of their first innings.
Leicestershire’s former Kent all-rounder, Neil Dexter, told reporter Mark Pennell that the poor weather has haunted most clubs this Spring.
County has lost the best part of 20 Specsavers County Championship sessions to date while Kent has suffered more than most, seeing almost 1,000 overs wiped off, including the entire opening game at Worcestershire.
“Rain and bad light has been the story of the season so far,” said Dexter. “Almost every game of ours has been affected somehow by weather, but it’s all out of our hands.
“Obviously, the innings against Worcestershire was one to forget for us, but other than that we’ve been playing some strong combative cricket.
“Everyone was gutted by that Worcestershire blip, that wasn’t us, and we’ve shown here that we can fight back on a wicket that, up front on day one, proved trickier than we’d imagined.”
Kent again had Daniel Bell-Drummond in good form, the opener taking his first-class seasonal tally to 769 at a terrific average of 128.16 with 65 not out.
“It’s just one of those things because the match had developed into quite a nice contest before the bad weather arrived,” said the England Lions batsman.
“We started nicely with the new ball on day one and we felt we ought to have bowled better at Pettini and Cosgrove. But, to be fair to them, they batted well and got their side back in the game with a brilliant stand.
“It was tough under the lights when we batted. We lost Tom early doors and I found picking up the ball in that gloom especially tough, but I rode my luck and I’m happy with another unbeaten 50 to my name.”
