WARWICKSHIRE 158-7 – lead by 161

KENT’S spin partnership of Min Patel and James Tredwell took advantage of a wearing Tunbridge Wells pitch to claim four wickets between them and send Warwickshire crashing on day three at The Nevill.

Having secured a slender first innings lead of three, Warwickshire’s acting captain made his intention to move the game forward clear by promoting his one-day pinch hitter Neil Carter to open his second innings.

The ploy backfired though when Carter, on only six, aimed a leg-side flick at the seventh ball of the innings to give a catch to Niall O’Brien.

Loudon resumed to his normal batting order thereafter, but Kent kept things tight and continued to take wickets at regular intervals.

They were gifted the next scalp when Mark Wagh, in chancing a third run to deep mid-wicket, lost the race against Amjad Khan’s accurate throw to be run out for eight.

England bat Ian Bell then got his second unplayable delivery of the match when Andrew Hall got one to lift, leave and brush the outside edge and give O’Brien another victim.

That bought together Nick Knight and Jonathan Trott for a face saving stand of 45 in 21 overs but it was the introduction of spin that turned the game in Kent’s favour as Tredwell plucked out two in the space of four balls either side of the tea interval.

Knight was first to go leg before, when padding up to an arm ball then, after the break, Loudon jumped across his crease to pad away an off-spinner to also go leg before to only his third delivery.

Before the close Patel got in on the act by having Jim Troughton caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Darren Stevens after an ill-advised slog sweep.

Tony Frost and Dougie Brown dug in to survive through to the close but with only three wickets left and a slender lead of 161, Kent must be favourites to land their first win on Kent soil this season.

Earlier in the day, Kent moved their overnight score to within three of Warwickshire’s as their last four wickets added a further 56 runs to effectively turn this into a one innings game.

Hall biffed three fours to move the hosts to 200 and their first and only batting bonus point, but in attempting a slashing square drive off left-armer Neil Carter he dragged onto his stumps to make it 200 for seven.

Two overs and four runs later Min Patel toe-ended a catch to the keeper when trying to withdraw his bat.

Left-handers Tredwell and Niall O’Brien got the board ticking again before Warwickshire took the new ball to polish off the innings when Dougie Brown send back Tredwell and Khan leg before in the space of three balls.

Brown finished with four for 45 and Lee Daggett four for 81, both bowling creditably for Warwickshire’s injury-hit attack.

SCORECARD

Warwickshire first innings

N V Knight c Hall b Khan 0
M A Waugh b Tredwell 48
I R Bell b Hall 20
I J Trott b Hall 0
A G R Loudon c van Jaarsveld b Khan 11
J O Troughton lbw b Patel 29
D R Brown b Kemp 10
T Frost not out 66
N M Carter c Key b Patel 27
J E Anyon c Walker b Patel 2
L Daggett b Hall 7

Extras 17

Total 237 all out after 100.2 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-4, 2-40, 3-40, 4-72, 5-84, 6-109, 7-151, 8-181, 9-185.

Bowling: Khan 20-5-43-2, Hall 18.2-7-43-2, Stevens 4-0-17-0, Patel 20-6-48-3, Kemp 9-1-25-1, Tredwell 29-8-51-1.

Kent first innings

R W T Key b Daggett 12
D P Fulton c Trott b Brown 10
M van Jaarsveld c Troughton b Daggett 9
M J Walker c Frost b Daggett 55
D I Stevens c Knight b Daggett 24
J M Kemp c Knight b Brown 28
A J Hall b Carter 27
N J O’Brien not out 26
M M Patel c Frost b Carter 0
J C Tredwell lbw b Brown 10
A Khan lbw b Brown 0

Extras 31

Total 234 all out after 91.5 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-22, 2-22, 3-42, 4-101, 5-155, 6-171, 7-200, 8-204, 9-234.

Bowling: Brown 27.5-11-45-4, Daggett 24-6-81-4, Loudon 10-4-13-0, Anyon 15-4-35-0, Carter 15-3-46-2.

Warwickshire second innings

N M Carter c O’Brien b Hall 6
M A Wagh run out (Khan) 8
N V Knight lbw b Tredwell 24
I R Bell c O’Brien b Hall 8
I J Trott b Tredwell 40
A G R Loudon lbw b Tredwell 0
J O Troughton c Stevens b Patel 22
D R Brown not out 34
T Frost not out 13

Extras 3

Total 158 for seven after 63 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-7, 2-26, 3-35, 4-80, 5-84, 6-95, 7-129

Bowling: Khan 7-2-29-0, Hall 7-0-16-2, Patel 24-5-55-1, Kemp 4-1-8-0, Tredwell 21-6-48-3,

Bonus points: Kent 4pts Warwickshire 4pts.