Expectations are high that Kent will make an immediate return to first division but Boeta Dippenaar contradicted the theory yesterday with a stubborn innings of 89 before falling short of his first century in any competition for Leicestershire. An overseas player last summer, he has since become a Kolpak registration for the county that now languishes at the bottom of the table.
After two blank days, Dippenaar was in the single minded mood to accumulate bonus points. Having followed on twice in their three previous championship matches and collected only two batting points, targeting 400 and bagging the full complement of five was also Leicestershire’s collective motivation.
Dippenaar, a South African, dawdled through the 80s and approached his previous best championship score of 93 against Middlesex last month before top edging a catch to mid-wicket off the worthy Simon Cook, a former Middlesex medium-fast bowler, who returned three for 52.
Hylton Ackerman, with 67 from 96 balls, and Tom New were Dippenaar’s best allies on a flat pitch offering bowlers the intermittent encouragement of low bounce. New, a half-century maker, shared a fifth wicket partnership of 57 in 24 overs but as for Kent, their bowlers lacked support in the field and points from this match are a distinct bonus.
Cook had dismissed Ackerman, caught at extra cover from a loose stroke, and James Taylor, taken at the wicket, in the space of three balls that pegged back Leicestershire from 247 for two in the 62nd over. Kent put too much width on their seam bowling, something that Matthew Boyce and Josh Cobb appreciated when celebrating their first opening partnership together by reaching 80 in 23 overs before they were parted.
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Boyce, venturing a cut to a ball too close to him, chopped on to his stumps immediately after Ryan McLaren had opted to bowl round the wicket. Cobb lost his wicket when aiming to drive Justin Kemp four balls before lunch and edging a catch. It was Kemp’s first over.
Leicestershire lunched at 116 for two after which Ackerman and Dippenaar added 131 in 33 overs on a soporific afternoon. Dippenaar disturbed the peace with two thunderous sixes in three balls from James Tredwell, an off-spinner, but how Dippenaar needed to reproduce that urgency later when he became painfully bogged down. Kent’s bottom line was Martin Saggers, their medium-fast bowler, limped off in mid over with Leicestershire in range of a fourth batting point.
Leicestershire: First Innings
M A G Boyce b McLaren 38
J W A Taylor c Jones b Kemp 46
H H Dippenaar c Denly b Cook 89
H D Ackerman c Stevens b Cook 67
J W A Taylor c Jones b Cook 0
T J New not out 55
*P A Nixon lbw b McLaren 14
W A White not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 8, nb 28) 42
Total (6 wkts, 96 overs) 351
C W Henderson, A J Harris and H F Gurney to bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-80, 2-116, 3-247, 4-247, 5-304, 6-349.
Bowling: Joseph 18-1-74-0; Saggers 16-3-53-0; Cook 19-7-52-3; McLaren 16-3-62-2; Tredwell 2-0-20-0; Kemp 13-3-49-1; Stevens 12-0-35-0.
Kent: J L Denly, S A Northeast, G O Jones, *M van Jaarsveld, D I Stevens, J M Kemp, R McLaren, J C Tredwell, S J Cook, M J Saggers, R H Joseph.
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Umpires: N G Cowley and R A Kettleborough.