Kent vs Hampshire LVCC Day 2 31st July

(ECB Match Report)

A century partnership between Robert Key and Joe Denly gave Kent an excellent start to their first-innings reply as they reached 241 for three against Hampshire.

They were trailing by 126 runs when rain brought play to an end at Canterbury with eight overs remaining.

Key showed a full range of strokes from the start, hitting two fours off consecutive balls from Chris Tremlett in the third over.

He was lucky on 33 when a chance for a catch at third slip was not taken and he went on to bring up his half century from just 44 balls.

Denly survived two chances in successive overs. On 24 he was dropped at wide mid-off and four runs later he was let off at slip. But unconcerned, he pushed on to 44 with a lovely cover drive for four while Key reached 65 with a square drive to the backward point boundary.

On 110, Kent lost the first wicket when Tremlett was back for a second spell after lunch and Key on 67 from 69 balls with 11 fours edged behind the stumps.

Denly went on to reach his half-century from 93 balls when he lifted Dimitri Mascarenhas to long-off for his 10th boundary and on 63 the chance for a return catch was not accepted by Imran Tahir.

On 78, he stepped out and drove Mascarenhas for four to mid-on and in the following over Kent lost Neil Dexter on 36 off Tahir who then, in his next over, bowled Denly with a leg spin. The batsman had reached 89 from 160 balls when he lifted Mascarenhas over long-off for a second six.

Earlier, a marvellous spell of bowling by Kent pacemen Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood brought the Hampshire first innings to an end after a little over an hour's play, having resumed on 312 for five.

Arafat, who had 3-59 overnight, added three more to finish with 6-86, his best figures in championship cricket, beating his previous 5-63, which was against the same opposition in 2007.

Hampshire lost their first wicket of the day in the sixth over when Arafat sent Mascarenhas' off stump cartwheeling.

Nine runs later Mahmood had Tremlett caught low at second slip by Martin van Jaarsveld. Meanwhile, Nic Pothas, who was 47 overnight, had brought up his half century from 113 balls when he drove Arafat to wide mid-wicket for his sixth boundary.

He had moved on to 63 when Arafat struck at the other end, removing David Balcombe for 10 with a catch at mid-off and three runs later the combination of van Jaarsveld at second slip and Mahmood accounted for Tahir's wicket.

Pothas hit two boundaries off successive balls from Mahmood, to cover and midwicket, to remain unbeaten on 73 from 150 balls. It was a fine effort over three and a half hours.

The innings was wrapped up on 367 with Arafat once again knocking the off stump out before James Tomlinson had scored. The visitors had lost their last five wickets in nine overs in the space of 40 runs.

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