Lancashire v Kent

ON a day where cricket was wiped out by rain in most parts of the country, Kent were left wishing their game against Lancashire had also fallen to the weather as they got off to a sloppy start to this LV Championship match at Old Trafford.

An inch of rain had fallen in the Trafford Park area overnight and when the players arrived at 9am they found the ground awash and prospects for play looked as dismal as the leaden skies.

Yet Pete Marron and his groundstaff worked tirelessly and, with a little help from 'mother nature', by 2.45pm and the loss of 49 overs umpire Jeff Evans was calling play and Yasir Arafat was running in to bowl from the Statham End.

The weather allowed only 200 minutes' play before the impending gloom led to a halt in proceedings at 6.30pm, but by then Lancashire had reached 164 for one leaving Kent to point the finger at another poor display in the field.

Crucially, acting Lancashire skipper Stuart Law had won the toss and elected to bat first on a green-tinted, yet heavily cracked and crazed pitch that seems certain to help red rose spinner Gary Keedy and Muthiah Muralitharan.

Kent harboured hopes that the new ball might dart around a little off the surface of a pitch that had spent the best part of 24 hours sweating under the covers, and so it transpired as Arafat and Andrew Hall gave the home openers Paul Horton and Iain Sutcliffe a torrid time.

Yet Kent missed their chances and somehow, though they played and missed frequently, the Lancashire openers posted 71 for the first wicket, their best of the season here at Old Trafford.

Horton might have gone with his score on seven when a back-foot defensive push against Hall found an outside edge. It looked set to go to James Tredwell at first slip until Geraint Jones, diving full length to his right, just got the tips of his gloves on it and deflected the ball for four.

McLaren then replaced Arafat and, in his first over, should have accounted for Horton when on 25. Pushing at a leg-cutter the right hander edged to second slip only to see Martin van Jaarsveld down the chance despite three attempts to catch it.

At the other end Sutcliffe, who mustered only 18 runs from his four previous championship knocks this summer, also lived a charmed life without offering any direct chances. Indeed, this was the first time he had reached double figures.

Kent finally got it right in the over before tea when Horton's luck finally ran out for 29 as he, off balance at the crease, fell across a straight one from Simon Cook to go leg before.

After the break Mal Loye moved to an attractive 50 from 67 balls including eight fours and a six off McLaren that, although effortlessly helped off his legs, sailed into the seats just in front of the Kent dressing room.

Sutcliffe too reached a half-century, but his 131-ball effort was largely attrition and almost instantly forgettable. Soon afterwards, Sutcliffe should have been dismissed when Tredwell beat him in the flight, but Jones made a hash of the stumping and the left-hander re-gained his ground.

He was still there on 57 when bad light stopped play five overs from the close, together with Loye who had cantered to 62.

All in all, this was another day Kent will want to forget.

SCORECARD

I J Sutcliffe not out 57
P J Horton lbw b Cook 29
M B Loye not out 62
Extras 16.

Total 164 for one after 50 overs.

Bowling: Arafat 12-3-28-0, Hall 9-0-50-0, Cook 9-1-19-1, McLaren 9-0-38-0, Tredwell 11-3-27-0.