Canterbury, T20, Kent (136-7, 20 overs) beat Gloucestershire (115-9, 20 overs) by 21 runs Kent completed another victory in the T20 competition, their second in the first two games, with a convincing 21 run over Gloucestershire at Canterbury tonight. The win was based on a fine performance in the field to defend a moderate 136, with excellent bowling from Riley (4-22 off 4 overs), Stevens (1-20 off 4 overs), Bollinger (2-15 off 4 overs), Claydon (1-17 off 3 overs) and Griffiths (1-12 off 2, bowling with genuine pace). Kent’s fielding was excellent with four good catches (by Billings, Northeast, Key and Stevens) and great stops, including by Blake and several by Riley, plus some on the boundary by Griffiths and Bell-Drummond. Riley’s bowling contribution was the most significant, getting rid of Hamish Marshall who was undoubtedly the Gloucestershire dangerman, as well as Klinger and Gidman who were also potential matchwinners. From the 5th over of the Gloucestershire innings, they were always at least 10 runs behind the equivalent score in the Kent innings. The Kent innings itself never really got going and when Stevens was out in the 12th over at 74-5 Kent were in danger of not posting a competitive score. Great credit then to Alex Blake, whose 41 off 30 balls rescued the situation, with a combination of fine hitting (including one baseball style enormous six off a full toss) and sensible batting. Blake struck boundaries in the 14th over (a flick to fine leg), 15th over (a reverse sweep), 16th over (a crashing cover drive), 18th over (another thrashed cover drive), the baseball style 6 came in the 19th over, and then a lucky inside edge for 4 in the final over. It was a really fine effort from Blake and he was my joint man of the match with Riley, though Riley was the official man of the match. It was a lovely, though slightly cool evening in Canterbury. The crowd appeared moderate in size to me, but if Kent can continue putting in performances like this and at Taunton, they will surely rise. Come on Kent!!
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 22:30:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015