No debacle at Tunbridge Wells
ScorecardRob Key was one of five Kent batsmen to pass fifty•Getty Images
Ravi, Jesse, Hoddy and Napes. As rampant seam attacks go, it’s not really a patch on Josh and the Three Mitches. But, for most of the patrons at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells, that was a somnambulantly pleasing fact.Thirty miles and several light-years from the scene of yesterday’s crime at Lord’s, life went on as normal in Kent’s most idyllic of outgrounds. Kent churned out the runs, 352 of them on the day, for the loss of four wickets. Essex stuck wilfully to their task, outplayed on the day maybe, but proving positively incisive compared to the horrors being endured by Sussex’s and Glamorgan’s bowlers at Horsham and Colwyn Bay.Fourth versus eighth in the second division of the LV= County Championship brought with it an excuse not to be drawn to the edge of one’s seat, or chew one’s nails to the quick. Instead it was an excuse to sit back and soak in, as Kent closed on an imposing 420 for 4, a lead of 160 leaving them well placed to exact revenge for their five-wicket defeat on a Chelmsford minefield in April.The spectators who bimbled around the boundary’s edge included plenty refugees from England’s Ashes debacle: horrified survivors of that grim fourth day, as well as mildly bewildered holders of those now-redundant fifth-day tickets, all booked up but with nowhere to go.In between their perusals of the second-hand bookstall at midwicket, or their chats with Jack Russell – the Gloucestershire and England legend was incongruously in situ, selling signed copies of his painting compilations – the faithful were rewarded with a meandering day of accumulation.None of Kent’s batsmen made fewer than Sam Northeast’s 43, but Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 81 from 71 balls – 46 of which had come in his first-evening onslaught – remained the clubhouse-leading score by the close.His aggression and timing was matched, in the gloaming, by the evergreen Darren Stevens, who enlived the evening session with 11 fours and a fierce six over midwicket off David Masters, as he and Ben Harmison laid into the new ball to carry the total past 400 in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 117.In between whiles, Kent’s batsmen took turns to drive the innings along without ever seizing the day by the scruff of the neck. Bell-Drummond looked the likeliest to do so, but with the third ball of his second spell, Ryder bowled him off a big inside-edge, his deceptively lolloping run-up giving way to a command of swing and seam that has now earned him 34 wickets at 23.76.Rob Key, restored to the opener’s role that he had relinquished during his last stint as captain, made a confident 71 – a lower-octane affair than his 87 against the Australians at Canterbury last month, maybe, after which he had joked that he wasn’t paid enough to face Mitchell Johnson at full tilt, but one which ended amid the threat of unexpected bounce. Graham Napier kicked one off a good length and Key, visibly taken aback, flapped an uncommitted pull to a stooping Nick Browne at square leg.That ought to have been Napier’s second of the day after Joe Denly had been dropped by Ryder at slip before he had scored. But he was quickly into his stride thereafter, clipping Napier through midwicket to get off the mark, and moving serenely along to 69 from 121 balls before Ravi Patel, the left-arm spinner, bowled him through a loose drive.Northeast, by that stage, had lost his leg stump to Jamie Porter, Essex’s quickest bowler whose methods were less suited to the conditions than those of his team-mates – his 18 overs were milked for 105 runs, including a loose morning spell in which Key and Bell-Drummond had picked off the boundaries at will.”I always enjoy playing at Tunbridge Wells, it’s always a decent wicket and enjoyed spending some time out there today,” said Denly at the close. “It’d be good to get one over Essex, and we are in a very strong position. Hopefully tomorrow we can kick on again, get a good lead and hopefully put them under some pressure.”It was very slow wicket,” he added. “Early on, Keysy and Deebs [Bell-Drummond] played very well with the newer harder ball, but when it got softer it was pretty hard to score and time, and my innings was a little bit scratchy. But at the end when the new ball was taken, Stevo and Ben were able to score a bit more freely and put us in a good position.”