Shreck stars in thrilling draw

Despite plenty of thrills and spills, Leicestershire’s third LV= County Championship match of the season against Kent ended in a draw at wind-swept Canterbury.

Having been set a victory target of 315, Kent reached 273-7 after a thrilling final session that could have seen the result go any of four ways.

Daniel Bell-Drummond scored a fine hundred for the hosts while former Kent seamer Charlie Shreck was terrific for Leicestershire.

The bowler delivered 15 of the pressure-filled 36 overs in the last session and returned 4-75 from 23 overs overall. It was the second game in succession that Shreck had recorded Leicestershire career-best figures.

Shreck was ably backed up by Clint McKay (2-65 from 20 overs) and the new ball duo picked up 14 of the 17 wickets to fall in the game, which was a mighty fine effort.

Despite overnight rain in south east Kent, the final day started promptly at 11am with Kent making brisk work of picking up the two remaining Leicestershire wickets.

Ivan Thomas had Rob Taylor (34) caught overhead at slip by Matt Coles, who then ripped out Shreck’s middle stump to conclude the innings at 11.12am.

Thomas finished with career-best figures of 4-48 as Kent faced an original victory target of 315 from a minimum of 91 overs. After rain forced an early lunch at 12.30pm and the loss of 18 overs, Kent set off on their pursuit at 1.10pm.

By the time the conditions had deteriorated enough to force a second stoppage, where two more overs fell by the wayside, the hosts had lost two key batsmen to Shreck. First-innings top scorer Joe Denly (9) was bowled and captain Rob Key (7) went leg before.

Bell-Drummond and Brendan Nash steadied the ship during a vital third-wicket stand of 105 in 32.5 overs.

Former England Under-19 bat Bell-Drummond notched his maiden 50 of the summer from 120 balls but, in looking to work a single to leg for his half-century, Nash perished leg before wicket to Taylor to make it 145-3.

Bell-Drummond and Sam Northeast (37) upped the run-rate tempo and, despite Shreck being well into a miserly 10-over post tea stint, took Kent into the final hour needing another 139 off 20 overs.

Northeast fell lbw to McKay but Darren Stevens emerged from the Pavilion to breathe new life into the pursuit. The Leicestershire-born right-hander started to find the ropes with increasing regularity and, with 10 overs remaining Kent required a further 82 with six wickets still in hand.

Though happy to give Stevens the strike, Bell-Drummond celebrated his first hundred of the summer from 186 balls and with 13 fours.  He perished soon after, caught on the ropes by Ben Raine in trying to clear the third man boundary off McKay for 103.

With Kent still 62 runs shy, Shreck returned to land the crucial blow by having Stevens (34) caught behind by Lewis Hill. Then, with 48 required from four overs, Coles (2) fell to the same combination to give Leicestershire a seventh wicket and renewed hope.

Sam Billings throttled back thereafter and played out time with Mitch Claydon and the sides shook hands on a draw at 6.23pm. In the end, the 20 overs lost to rain during the day had taken their toll but Leicestershire could be pleased after taking 12 points following another battling performance.

Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 20-5-65-2, Shreck 23-3-75-4, Naik 9-3-22-0, Raine 13-0-60-0, Taylor 6-0-35-1.