da betway： A late afternoon collapse that saw Kent lose three wickets for fourruns in the space of five balls allowed Hampshire to wrest theinitiative of this first division survival battle
da bwin： Mark Pennell at Canterbury08-Sep-2010
ScorecardA late afternoon collapse that saw Kent lose three wickets for fourruns in the space of five balls allowed Hampshire to wrest theinitiative of this first division survival battle and leave the hostsstaring down the barrel at Championship relegation.Having dismissed their fellow strugglers for 182 to secure a slender,yet precious first innings lead of 22, Hampshire survived a dozen nervyovers in fading light through to the close and go into day three on 16without loss and an overall advantage in the match of 38 runs.Rain and bad light ensured there was no hope of Kent resuming on theirovernight total of 15 for one until 1.35pm and after the loss of 30overs out of the day.Home second-wicket pair Rob Key and Joe Denly emerged seemingly hellbent on making up for lost time and, with an array of drives and cuts,took the score on to 41 before the gloom started to descend on theKentish faithful.Playing across the line of a canny off-cutter from Dominic Cork, Keywas almost walking by the time the finger went up to confirm theHampshire skipper’s leg before appeal.Denly, with a top-score of 42, and Martin van Jaarsveld (41) dug in todouble Kent’s tally before Denly played inside the line of a SeanErvine leg-cutter that rearranged middle and off stumps.Just before tea, Geraint Jones aiming to leg and against the spinwhen facing left-arm spinner Danny Briggs also went lbw, though thebatsman left the middle somewhat quizzically and only after making apoint of inspecting the inside edge of his bat.Kent’s collapse gathered momentum soon after tea and coincided with asecond stint by seamer James Tomlinson, the pick of the visiting attackon an overcast day with four for 59.He enticed Darren Stevens (13) into an ill-advised waft outside offthat found the edge through to the keeper and then beat Alex Blake forpace next ball up to pin the rookie left-hander leg before.With five slips and a gully in place for the hat-trick delivery,Tomlinson dragged the ball onto leg stump allowing James Tredwell tosurvive it by glancing for four to fine leg.However, there was little or no respite for Kent as veteran seamerCork maintained his side’s grip on the game by plucking out vanJaarsveld’s off stump in the next over as the hosts conspired to losethree in the space of five deliveries.Malinga Bandara aimed a lusty blow against Tomlinson to miss by a mileand go lbw, then Matt Coles steered to the keeper when trying towithdraw the bat at the last minute. It was left to Ervine to polish off the innings by having James Tredwell caught at deep midwicket to end a last wicket stand of 22.Hampshire’s bowling hero Tomlinson, said afterwards: “We’re back inthe hunt in this game now and we’re delighted. We knew if we could nipone or two out we might get more and we somehow managed to get wicketsat key moments.”
