Pretty good effort today. Yates has been threatening a big score.
After Barnard went we could have easily slipped to 300 all out but having someone of Maxwell's class to come in at 7 is a game changer.
Another shift required from the bowlers tomorrow.

Epic innings from Yates. Played the spin really well I thought, Qadri looked quite threatening at times. Great to see Rob get some big runs with the white Bear on his helmet.

Solid contributions from all the batters. Brookes is having a decent all round game.

If we can nip a couple out early we might win today.

It’s still a great batting pitch so getting another nine wickets could be a long, hard slog.
Do we know why Maxwell didn’t come out to field last night? His bowling might be needed.

Well they stuck with it all day and won it in the last over of the day. Excellent win

Fantastic win. Huge effort, they all put so much into that. They've earned the day off.

Now we just need to hope that Notts can at the very least get a draw against Surrey and we’re very much back in the title race

Any chance it will rain all day south of the Thames??????????

I enjoyed my two days in Canterbury (days one and two) and thought it was a great performance from the Bears. Matt Walker, the Kent coach, gave his team a real roasting for their batting on the first day and at least they battled harder on day three.
The last time I was in Canterbury was in 1971 when the Bears played a Gillette Cup semi-final and they organised a day trip that involved flying from Birmingham to Manston. Unfortunately, it rained and the game wasn't finished on our day there. The next day on a damp pitch, Derek Underwood was unplayable and the Bears lost.
Anyway, Canterbury is a lovely city - prettier even than Birmingham - and I really liked the ground so I hope to go there again and not leave it another 52 years.

A great win inside three days. We can only keep winning and putting pressure on the leaders. All results still possible at The Oval today.

GerryShedd wrote:

I enjoyed my two days in Canterbury (days one and two) and thought it was a great performance from the Bears. Matt Walker, the Kent coach, gave his team a real roasting for their batting on the first day and at least they battled harder on day three.
The last time I was in Canterbury was in 1971 when the Bears played a Gillette Cup semi-final and they organised a day trip that involved flying from Birmingham to Manston. Unfortunately, it rained and the game wasn't finished on our day there. The next day on a damp pitch, Derek Underwood was unplayable and the Bears lost.
Anyway, Canterbury is a lovely city - prettier even than Birmingham - and I really liked the ground so I hope to go there again and not leave it another 52 years.

Did they replace the tree that died and if so is did they plant it inside the boundary rope?

LeicesterExile wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

I enjoyed my two days in Canterbury (days one and two) and thought it was a great performance from the Bears. Matt Walker, the Kent coach, gave his team a real roasting for their batting on the first day and at least they battled harder on day three.
The last time I was in Canterbury was in 1971 when the Bears played a Gillette Cup semi-final and they organised a day trip that involved flying from Birmingham to Manston. Unfortunately, it rained and the game wasn't finished on our day there. The next day on a damp pitch, Derek Underwood was unplayable and the Bears lost.
Anyway, Canterbury is a lovely city - prettier even than Birmingham - and I really liked the ground so I hope to go there again and not leave it another 52 years.

Did they replace the tree that died and if so is did they plant it inside the boundary rope?
The replacement lime tree is outside the boundary but seems to be flourishing.

A shame Essex won today but otherwise a pretty good set of results with the other three matches drawn.

Yeah my thoughts too, 10 balls away from a perfect set of results.

Kudos to Lancs for going for it but would've suited us if they'd played for a draw!

Them and Middlesex in our next two. We must be favourites against Middlesex but the Lancs game becomes a massive one! Hopefully their confidence is dented after today.

GerryShedd, I seem to recall Dennis Amiss in his first book 'In Search of Runs', saying that the pitch was damp but they could have played on a perfectly dry one next to it that was covered better. The BBC refused to move their cameras so the damp one was used and on a drying pitch, scoring was difficult.

paulbear wrote:

GerryShedd, I seem to recall Dennis Amiss in his first book 'In Search of Runs', saying that the pitch was damp but they could have played on a perfectly dry one next to it that was covered better. The BBC refused to move their cameras so the damp one was used and on a drying pitch, scoring was difficult.

That's interesting and if Dennis says so, it's probably true.
Looking at Leslie Duckworth's Club history, he confirms that the start of the match was delayed by 2 hours and 50 minutes because of overnight rain, some of which got under the covers. He says that the damp pitch was easy to bat on for Kent but, on the next day, the sun got onto it and the Warwickshire batsmen were all at sea.
Duckworth says that trip by air to Canterbury cost £10 each. And there is a picture of the passengers waiting to board the aircraft at what he calls Elmdon airport. About half my face is visible in the photo so I can say that I appear in the Club history, a slightly dubious claim to fame.

I like the story of your previous visit to Canterbury Gerry. The flight there from Birmingham sounds interesting too. I've been to Canterbury three times in the last 18 years or so (easy from London, especially on the new fast train from St Pancras) and agree a very nice ground, in the same sort of category as Worcester though Worcester does shade it. I remember having two quite unpleasant conversations with some of their supporters there, bit boastful and crass about Rob Key of all people, but probably three or more more pleasant ones and was taken care of well when I had my then 14 month old son with me. So net-net all good.

To today it seems a slight shift in balance with Essex winning and Hampshire drawing. I said after a previous game I think 2nd is the best we can do this year and I think we will need to play really well to beat Essex to that. Hants seem on the wane a bit now and I think we'll see them off but Essex are at the peak of their powers. The run ins will be interesting.

Really don’t see why we can’t go on and win it now

Surrey on the decline

Essex benefitting from kookaburra.

Hopefully Miles and Norwell on the way back.

We may need a signing next week but we look strong!

If we get a 23 point win from our game in hand on Surrey then we would be level on points. Lots of cricket still to be played. We desperately need to recruit a quality bowler before the next match though.

Yeah, I think a quality fast bowler is the difference between us being contenders and genuine title challengers.

Hassan Ali leaves a dearth of seamers with a difference.

I have no confidence we'll see Norwell again. Brookes did well in this game and if he does turn out to be the answer fantastic but it's his consistency in past which has let him down.

My question then is where do you pluck a top class fast bowler from at this stage in a season?

I have a daughter who lives in Kent so I try to fit in a day at Canterbury most years, whoever's playing. It remains one of my favourite County grounds for reasons noted above. It has good sight lines; an intimate feel; decent food; and a limited amount of concrete. Even the flats and mini-market that have been built on what used to be the outfield car park have been done tastefully. Plus I do have a liking for a glass or two of Spitfire.
It tends to be quiet too and it was certainly so on Wednesday when I was there. I guess the weather was not great and the Kent supporters knew they were in for a stuffing. I still enjoyed it, though, as there is quite a bit of experience in the Kent batting line up and they weren't giving it away. I think Rob Yates' spell was key to getting the job done on the third day. What a game he had! It's lucky he's not known for his slogging or the England side would have had him by now.