Bell-drummond Hits Ton & Crawley Finds Form As Kent Fight Back

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Lord's (day two)

Kent 129 & 226-4: Bell-Drummond 103*, Crawley 68; Roland-Jones 2-65

Middlesex 238: Higgins 54; Evison 3-43

Kent (3 pts) lead Middlesex (3 pts) by 117 runs

Match scorecard

Kent skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond led his side's fightback by posting his first red-ball 100 successful complete a twelvemonth connected nan 2nd time of their County Championship crippled against Middlesex astatine Lord's.

Bell-Drummond, who averaged azygous figures this play going into Kent's 2nd innings, vanished unbeaten connected 103 arsenic his broadside progressed to 226-4 – a lead of 117 – erstwhile bad ray ended play.

He shared a second-wicket guidelines of 109 pinch England's Zak Crawley, who was dropped astatine 2nd gaffe disconnected Dane Paterson connected 3 and recovered to people 68, his 3rd half-century of nan season.

Middlesex grounded to stitchery immoderate batting prize points earlier successful nan day, pinch Ryan Higgins top-scoring connected 54 arsenic they mislaid their past six wickets for 61 and were bowled retired for 238.

The location broadside began nan time pinch a 29-run advantage and Higgins soon precocious to his 2nd successive half-century, swishing George Garrett done nan vacant 2nd gaffe region for four.

But, having stretched their overnight business to 81, Higgins and Ben Geddes departed wrong nan abstraction of 3 balls – Joey Evison judging a drawback successful nan heavy perfectly to region Geddes earlier Garrett castled Higgins pinch a beauty that deed nan apical of mediate stump.

It needed a robust guidelines of 42 betwixt Jack Davies and Toby Roland-Jones to widen nan hosts' lead into 3 figures arsenic Davies pulled Evison for nan game's first six and struck Matt Parkinson for successive boundaries.

However, nan leg-spinner tempted Davies to thrust again, pouching a return drawback that sandwiched Evison's dismissals of Roland-Jones and Henry Brookes to wrap up Middlesex's innings.

That near Kent to discuss 5 overs earlier luncheon – and Crawley was fortunate to do so, his 3rd transportation looping disconnected a starring separator to autumn conscionable short of constituent earlier Sam Robson spilled nan chance to disregard him successful nan adjacent over.

Robson made amends by snapping up Ben Compton's separator astatine caput tallness disconnected Roland-Jones, but that was Middlesex's sole occurrence until mid-afternoon arsenic nan clouds dispersed and nan visitors capitalised connected nan improved batting conditions.

Bell-Drummond gradually settled into nan groove, pulling a short shot from Brookes to nan statement to raise his 50 business pinch Crawley, who adopted a merciless attack towards thing wide from nan seamers.

The 27-year-old drove confidently connected some sides of nan wicket, dispatching a loose transportation from Higgins to nan screen obstruction to scope his 3rd half-century of nan run from 62 balls arsenic Kent wiped retired their first-innings arrears.

Paterson yet achieved nan breakthrough, bringing 1 backmost down nan slope to pin Crawley connected his backmost limb soon earlier Bell-Drummond passed 50, hammering a Roland-Jones half-volley to nan boundary.

Tawanda Muyeye fell soon aft tea, lbw prodding astatine Higgins and location was a scratchy commencement for Jack Leaning, caught connected nan enarthrosis by a shot from Roland-Jones that reared up conscionable aft his wrong separator had zipped narrowly complete nan stumps for four.

Leaning's innings ended erstwhile he skied an attempted propulsion to mid-on earlier his successor arsenic Kent skipper chalked up a 19th first-class period from 168 balls – albeit successful untidy fashion, slicing Paterson conscionable complete nan gaffe fielder's caput for four.

That bound came conscionable successful clip for Bell-Drummond, pinch umpires Rob Bailey and Anthony Harris taking nan teams disconnected nan section 3 balls later.

ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay