Bell-Drummond triple-ton sets Kent up for victory push

Northamptonshire 237 and 214 for five (Keogh 57, Procter 52) path Kent 621 (Bell-Drummond 300*, Russell 6-175) by 170 runs

Bell-Drummond completed unbeaten on precisely 300, registering the fourth-highest particular person rating in Kent’s historical past after nearly 9 hours on the crease because the guests racked up an imposing complete of 621.

Resuming on 271 in a single day, Bell-Drummond survived a robust lbw enchantment by Ben Sanderson within the second over of the day and made cautious progress whereas his companions threw the bat on the different finish. A fragile late reduce for 2 off Russell propelled him past John Freeman’s 286 for Essex greater than a century earlier – the earlier highest rating registered by an opposition participant at Wantage Highway.

Nonetheless, wickets started to tumble to the younger spinner, with Joey Evison lured down the observe and stumped for 27 earlier than Hamid Qadri and Wes Agar additionally perished in pursuit of fast runs.

With Jack White trapping Matt Quinn leg earlier than first ball, Bell-Drummond, on 293, abruptly appeared in peril of ending up marooned with a private landmark tantalisingly shut as final man Arshdeep Singh arrived on the crease.

The India worldwide calmly swung his first supply over long-on for 2 earlier than smashing a few boundaries as Bell-Drummond inched nearer to 300 – finally pulling Russell for a single and punching the air with delight and aid.

Having slammed the subsequent ball into the fingers of deep midwicket, Arshdeep raced off to lace up his bowling boots as he and Agar hurtled in for a pre-lunch burst at Northamptonshire’s openers.

They eliminated each earlier than the interval, with Emilio Homosexual prodding Arshdeep to Jack Leaning at second slip earlier than the skipper’s name for Joe Denly’s legbreaks paid dividends as Ricardo Vasconcelos departed in the identical method to the ultimate ball of the session.

Sam Whiteman displayed some resistance after lunch, crunching Agar for successive off-side boundaries to achieve 28, however Denly tempted him to comb and the ensuing high edge sailed to backward sq.. Denly, who remained on all through a lot of the afternoon, may need collected a 3rd wicket when Ben Compton was unable to understand a pointy probability from Keogh at quick leg with the right-hander on 18.

Keogh regularly bought on high of Kent’s all-spin assault, making the most of some wayward Denly deliveries to crack three fours in an over and sweeping Qadri to the sq. leg fence to carry up his half-century on the cusp of tea.

There was a scare for Keogh when a ball from Qadri lodged in his again pad after which trickled throughout to relaxation in opposition to the stumps with out dislodging a bail, however the spinner bought his man quickly afterwards for 57, profitable what appeared a really marginal lbw resolution.

That broke the fourth-wicket stand of 80, however Procter progressed to a resolute 50 from 146 balls and, with Saif Zaib going for his photographs on the different finish, the pair shaved one other 51 off the deficit. Leaning introduced himself on to bowl and promptly pinned Procter leg earlier than along with his second supply, however murky overhead situations compelled the gamers from the sphere only a few overs later.