Getting under way 23 hours after it was supposed to, this match between the bottom side, Kent, and fifth-placed Northamptonshire has moved on at rapid pace, with 17 wickets falling in the day.
Kent slumped from 93 for two to 140 all out after Northamptonshire’s seam-attack pair, Mohammad Azharullah and Rory Kleinveldt, took five wickets apiece. The pitches at Wantage Road have been very flat and every championship match at the ground this season has ended in a draw. This one, however, has had a good layer of grass left on it and looked at first glance to be a seamers’ paradise.
Kent’s first-innings total was nothing to do with the pitch, though; they were guilty of a lack of application, playing loose shots against impressive bowling by Azharullah and Kleinveldt.
The former bowled with metronomic accuracy and the latter with more loose balls while finding good movement off the seam.
Only the opener Daniel Bell-Drummond, who had to fend off a very steep rising ball, can feel that it was the pitch that caused his downfall.
The 69-run partnership between the club captain, Rob Key, and match captain, Sam Northeast, for the third wicket demonstrated there were runs on offer; both batsmen played a series of dismissive drives. But after that partnership was broken it was a procession of wickets with Kent losing their last eight for 47 runs in 10 overs.
The afternoon and evening sessions were archetypal sessions of county cricket meandering along at sedate pace. Half-centuries from the captain, Alex Wakely, and off-spinner Rob Keogh put Northamptonshire into a strong position as they moved into the lead.
But Kent dragged themselves back into the match with five very quick wickets towards the end of the day when Matt Coles changed ends and found pace and movement.
