County Championship: Lancashire beat Kent by 10 wickets despite Ben Compton's rearguard
- Published
The 279 runs scored between Lancashire's Dane Vilas and Steven Croft on the first day ultimately proved vital
LV= County Championship Division One, Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury (day four) |
Lancashire 506: Croft 155, Vilas 124, Salt 97; Qadri 6-129 & 36-0 |
Kent 260: Compton 104*, Crawley 54; Parkinson 4-66 & 279: Compton 115, Qadri 77; Hassan 3-36 |
Lancashire (24 pts) beat Kent (3 pts) by 10 wickets |
Lancashire were made to wait to beat Kent as their hosts' resistance was the story of the final day.
Ben Compton recorded his second century of the match, adding a defiant 115 off 340 balls to his first-innings 104 not out to make the Red Rose bat again.
He scored 20 fours as he became Kent's first men's player to hit tons in their first three innings for the club.
He was last out in Kent's 279 setting Lancashire 34 to seal victory before they went on to win by 10 wickets.
Kent had just a glimmer of hope following Lancashire's first-day score of 506 and their own 81-6 slump which left them with an overnight deficit of 165 and before long, the target was to at least avoid an innings defeat.
In his 12th first-class game, Compton had already become the first Kent men's player to score centuries in his first two innings for the county since Martin van Jaarsveld in 2005, but he somehow kept up incredible concentration as he faced 629 balls across the match.
A neat reverse sweep brought up his latest ton off 313 balls after Hamidullah Qadri went for a career-high 77 from 195 balls following a 139-partnership with Compton, as he was fractionally late in reacting to a Hasan Ali delivery.
That made it 221-8, and when Nathan Gilchrist was caught by Ali without scoring moments later, Compton held his nerve as Kent squeezed their way to extending the match by scoring another 54 runs.
Compton was looking to make club history by carrying the bat through both innings, but fell just short when George Balderson pinned him leg before to leave them with 34 runs to win. Balderson then played a hand with the bat making 23 not out.
Kent next host Hampshire on Thursday, while Lancashire have a home fixture against Gloucestershire.
Kent batter Ben Compton:
"I'm delighted on a personal level to make the start I have for Kent. I wanted to try and make an impact early doors. It's with mixed feelings because we've been beaten here.
"I just try to keep it simple and just watch the ball, take things in small stages and just build from there, so that's what I've been trying to do and I hope it can help us win games.
"I'm tired but I feel like I've given everything I can and that's a nice feeling. I've done as much as I can to try and get us a draw and hopefully in future games it'll be a win."
Lancashire captain Dane Vilas:
"From the first day right up until the last it was good tough, cricket from both teams. They fought extremely hard not to give us the win and we were desperate for it.
"We said it was going to be tough and Compton with the way he batted in both innings was incredible. We knew he wasn't going to give it away but we were surprised at how long it went. When you come here you know it's not going to be easy.
"It was a good wicket and we had to fight hard for all those wickets. I think we spent over 200 overs in the field which was extremely tough, but everyone stuck their hand up."