Salvaging bonus points was the name of the game for promotion-chasing Kent, who prospered on an innings of 116 not out from England prospect Joe Denly, 23, his first championship hundred of the season. He shared a second-wicket partnership of 181 in 39 overs with Geraint Jones along the way to a brisk 265 for two and two batting points before bad light ended play. Denly made his runs from 194 balls.
His assured innings included three sixes off Claude Henderson, the slow left-armer, who sent down 24 overs unchanged to compensate for Leicestershire’s thin bowling resources. The only wickets to fall were those of Jones and Sam Northeast, who received the game’s only brute of a ball, a sharp lifter from Harry Gurney, 22, a medium-fast left-arm bowler. Gurney, 22, a former Loughborough Grammar School student, was awarded this week a contract until the end of next season and is a player to watch.
Jones, with championship hundreds against Northamptonshire and Glamorgan already this season, looked in line for a third before being run out 14 runs short by a pinpoint throw from Hylton Ackerman. In a headlong pursuit of batting points, Kent added 100 runs in 14 overs after tea and gathered runs even more impressively than Leicestershire had done in their rise to a declaration at 403 for nine in the morning, Simon Cook finishing with five for 78.
It was their highest score of the season to which Tom New contributed 85 not out, with 13 fours from 154 balls. He was deprived of a possible third first-class hundred when a halt was called because a maximum of five batting points opened an immediate way to quest for bowling points by the bottom-of-the-table team.
New, who is 24, has a different challenge approaching with Leicestershire captain Paul Nixon, 38, recognising that his wicketkeeping understudy must be given an opportunity with the gloves. After the next two championship games and the conclusion of the Twenty20 group stages, Nixon is set to hand them over to New for first-class matches.
Advertisement
Nixon, who will play as a specialist batsman, said: “Now is the time to see if Tom is good enough to do the job day in and day out in the county game.” New has been given limited opportunities with the gloves in the past three seasons, apart from when he was on loan with Derbyshire last season.
Leicestershire: First Innings
M A G Boyce b McLaren 38
J J Cobb 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 85
*P A Nixon lbw b McLaren 14
W A White c Kemp b Cook 11
C W Henderson b Cook 0
A J Harris lbw b Joseph 0
H F Gurney not out 0
Extras (b 11, lb 6, w 8, nb 28) 53
Total (9 wkts dec, 110.3 overs) 403
Fall of wickets: 1-80, 2-116, 3-247, 4-247, 5-304, 6-349, 7-382, 8-386, 9-387.
Bowling: Joseph 25.3-2-89-1; Saggers 15.5-3-53-0; Cook 26-8-78-5; McLaren 16-3-62-2; Tredwell 2-0-20-0; Kemp 13.1-3-49-1; Stevens 12-0-35-0.
Kent: First Innings
J L Denly not out 116
S A Northeast c Nixon b Gurney 26
G O Jones run out 87
*M van Jaarsveld not out 13
Extras (b 4, lb 8, w 3, nb 8) 23
Total (2 wkts, 63.5 overs) 265
Advertisement
D I Stevens, J M Kemp, R McLaren, J C Tredwell, S J Cook, M J Saggers and R H Joseph did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-238.
Bowling: Harris 12-4-37-0; Gurney 17.5-6-55-1; Henderson 24-3-99-0; Taylor 3-0-10-0; White 7-0-52-0.
Umpires: N G Cowley and R A Kettleborough.