County Championship: Kent hold nerve to beat Surrey despite Morne Morkel spell
Wednesday 10 July 2019 19:19, UK
Kent overcame some jitters to beat Surrey by five wickets at the Kia Oval and claim their third win of the season in the Specsavers County Championship.
Chasing 121 to win on a pitch still offering some assistance to the bowlers, Kent lost Zac Crawley and Joe Denly in the first over of their chase to Morne Morkel (2-22).
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When Sean Dickson (18) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (26) fell either side of lunch they still needed 71 to win but Ollie Robinson settled any nerves with an unbeaten 51 off just 44 balls including four boundaries and a six swatted over long-on off Dean Elgar to win the match.
Victory keeps Kent fifth in the table, 43 points ahead of bottom of the table Nottinghamshire. Surrey are sixth, three points below them.
In Division Two, Derbyshire strengthened their promotion challenge with an 82-run win over Worcestershire in Kidderminster - bouncing back in style after being bowled out for 108 on the opening day.
Worcestershire batsman Callum Ferguson (127) hit his maiden Championship hundred as the visitors showed plenty of resilience in recovering from the depths of 48-5 during day three.
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But West Indian bowler Ravi Rampaul (4-64) finished with four wickets, and Fynn Hudson-Prentice (3-42) and Tony Palladino (3-34) three apiece as the Pears were ultimately bundled out for 290 on the fourth and final day.
Haseeb Hameed played just his second significant innings of the season to help Lancashire secure a hard-earned draw on the final day of their clash against Northamptonshire.
Hameed was one of four half-centurions as Lancashire held on to return to the top of the table.
Required to see out 89 overs for a draw, Alex Davies scored 53 before Hameed made his return to form with 55 in 116 balls. Hameed fell after tea but Josh Bohannon (65no) and an unbeaten 53 from captain Dane Vilas saw Lancashire to a draw with six overs left in the match as they closed on 275-4.
At Grace Road, Durham took seven wickets in an extended afternoon session to clinch a 119-run victory over Leicestershire, who drop to the bottom of the table.
Seamer Ben Raine took 5-47 against his former county as the hosts were bowled out for 273 in pursuit of an unlikely target of 393.
Leicestershire's in-form opener Hassan Azad (62) and Mark Cosgrove (60) made half-centuries but after an 81-run stand between the pair was broken soon after lunch, Raine, Nathan Rimmington (3-44) and Chris Rushworth (2-80) took the last six wickets for 63 runs.
