Kent v Lancashire

INJURY-HIT Kent performed bowling miracles at St Lawrence to reduce Lancashire to 316 for eight at the mid-point of their LV Championship match at St Lawrence.

Kent, having posted 327, went into the field with Matt Walker suffering with a virus, but without Joe Denly, who was off the field through sickness, and all-rounder Ryan McLaren, unable to bowl after x-rays revealed he had a broken right thumb.

That left home skipper Rob Key with only five viable bowlers, and he rang the changes superbly to winkle out Lancashire's top eight players and maintain an 11-run lead at stumps.

Fit and raring to go after injuries and a loan spell at Essex, it was Martin Saggers who almost single-handedly carried the Kent new ball attack and who fully deserved his return of four for 43.

He had Paul Horton (37) caught in the deep by substitute fielder Warren Lee and followed up with the scalps of V V S Laxman (10), Luke Sutton, who nicked to the keeper for 12 having already been dropped, and Glen Chapple, who dragged on after a hard-hit 88, including five sixes off James Tredwell.

Having removed Mark Chilton (53) early on, Tredwell suffered some fearful stick from Chapple, but he bounced back late in the day with a harder ball to improve his figures with two quick wickets.

Stuart Law (66) having been dropped off a stitter at deep mid-wicket by Kent's 12th man Warren Lee, was bowled through the gate then, in the last over of the day, Dominic Cork charged down the wicket to be stumped by a couple of yards.

While Saggers, Cook, Dexter and Tredwell battled hard for the cause, overseas "star" Lasith Malinga again proved a huge let-down in his final game for the county.

The Sri Lankan conceded 41 runs from nine, wicket-less overs including 19 from 12 deliveries with the new ball, after which, he was removed from the attack.

Earlier, Kent had lost their last three wickets in adding only seven to their overnight total and miss out on a fourth batting bonus point by 23 runs.

Matt Walker took his overnight score on to 142 before edging to Law at second slip off Glen Chapple, then Cook (38) and Saggers (0) quickly followed against the bowling of Oliver Newby, who closed with three for 65.

Chapple, with three for 63, also proved a handful while Muthiah Muralitharan took two for 81 despite an arm injury that may yet force him out of action for the remainder of the game.

Scorecard:

Kent first innings
J L Denly c Laxman b Chapple 19
R W T Key c Laxman b Newby 17
M van Jaarsveld lbw b Chapple 0
M J Walker c Law b Chapple 142
N J Dexter b Cork 42
G O Jones lbw b Muralitharan 7
J C Tredwell lbw b Muralitharan 19
R McLaren run out (Horton) 2
S J Cook lbw b Newby 38
M J Saggers b Newby 0
S L Malinga not out 1
Extras 40

Total 327 all out after 110 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-30, 2-30, 3-50, 4-173, 5-186, 6-231, 7-236, 8-324, 9-324.

Bowling: Chapple 22-5-63-3, Cork 20-8-36-1, Muralitharan 33.3-5-81-2, Newby 21-4-65-3, Mahmood 13.3-2-56-0.

Lancashire first innings
M J Chilton c Dexter b Tredwell 53
P J Horton c Sub (Lee) b Saggers 37
S J Croft lbw b Cook 29
S G Law b Tredwell 66
V V S Laxman c Tredwell b Saggers 10
L D Sutton c Jones b Saggers 12
G Chapple b Saggers 88
D G Cork st Jones b Tredwell 5
O J Newby not out 1
Extras 15

Total 326 for eight after 95.1 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-85, 2-127, 3-135, 4-161, 5-179, 6-297, 7-315, 8-316.

Bowling: Saggers 25-12-43-4, Malinga 9-1-41-0, Tredwell 35.1-6-145-3, Cook 19-9-43-1, Dexter 7-0-29-0.

Bonus points: Kent 5pts, Lancashire 6pts.