Criticism, however politely expressed, carries more weight when you’ve won a match at a canter, so Sam Northeast should surely be taken seriously after his Kent side beat Leicestershire by eight wickets, lifting themselves off the bottom of the County Championship.
The game was concluded in well under two-and-a-half days and, despite leaving with 20 points, Northeast made it clear he had been unimpressed by the condition of the Grace Road pitch.
“We have to take it as it comes, but we do seem to be going from place to place and playing on this type of ‘result’ wicket and I don’t think it’s great for cricket in general, and producing England players and producing good cricket,” said Northeast, who was at the still distinctly green wicket when Joe Denly hit the winning runs.
“We’ve taken away the points, so I guess people will say ‘Just be happy’, but I think it’s a common theme, people want results because they want to play in Division One, and I think someone higher up than myself probably needs to look at what is happening at the moment with Division Two wickets,” he continued.
It was an unselfish comment, given the excellent use Kent made of the pitch, bowling out Leicestershire twice in short order, despite losing one of the quartet of seamers, Ivan Thomas, early in the match to a side strain.
Despite heavy overnight rain, play resumed on time with Leicestershire on 110 for nine, only 59 ahead, and Ben Raine and Charlie Shreck took the score on to 123 before Shreck was bowled by Matt Coles, the seamer’s fourth wicket of the innings to go with the six he took in Leicestershire’s first innings. Coles’ match figures of 10 for 94 were his best in first-class cricket.
Needing just 73 to win on what remained a difficult pitch on which to bat, Kent adopted an aggressive approach, and while it paid off for Denly, it did cause the downfall of Daniel Bell-Drummond, caught by Angus Robson at first slip off the bowling of Raine, and Rob Key, who lofted Raine straight to Ned Eckersley.
Denly prospered, however, hitting 37 not out off 48 balls, and in company with Northeast, who hit 28 off 25 balls, saw the visitors home shortly after lunch.
The Leicestershire head coach Andrew McDonald insisted the Foxes are still making progress, despite a fourth consecutive championship defeat.
“We know where we’re heading internally, and it was never going to be a quick fix, it takes time to rebuild. We’ve been in a lot of games this season, we’ve played some really good cricket, and the guys are moving forward. At the moment we’re positive we’re building something, we’re working hard, and you’ll see results soon,” he said.
