Kent v Durham: Scores and match report from County Championship Division Two

Match scores (Canterbury)

Match drawn 

Durham first inns: 448 all out (Collingwood 120, Pringle 71; Stevens 5-78)

Durham 2nd inns: 271-6 dec (Clark 83, Collingwood 51no; Yasir 2-94)

Kent first inns: 236 (Northeast 109no, Yasir 48; McCarthy 6-63)

Kent 2nd inns: 343-9 (Northeast 72, Dickson 46, Denly 45; Rushworth 3-62)

Day four report

Kent's 10th-wicket pair of Yasir Shah and Mitch Claydon resisted for the final 46 balls of the match to secure a thrilling Specsavers County Championship draw with Durham in Canterbury.

Shah, on his home debut, batted for an hour and 21 minutes while last man Claydon - a former Durham player - joined him to deny Paul Collingwood's side their first win.

Required to bat all day to maintain their unbeaten status in Division Two, Kent lost three wickets in each of the opening two sessions to leave the door ajar for a Durham victory.

But Kent fought their way to stumps on day four on 343 for nine, 141 short of the winning line but achieving their ambition of avoiding a loss.

The hosts began the day on 35 without loss and their first blow came from the 20th delivery of the morning. In aiming an expansive drive against Barry McCarthy, opener Daniel Bell-Drummond only succeeded in dragging the ball onto his middle stump to slope off with only 17 to his name.

After helping to add 76 in 17.5 overs for the second wicket, Joe Denly departed for 45 to the deserving Gavin Main. Denly had scored his ninth boundary by edging Main through the cordon to the ropes at third man but, without addition, he pushed at one with an open bat face only to steer the ball into the hands of Collingwood at slip.

Durham bagged their third wicket of the session with 117 on the board when Sean Dickson, on 46, drove a firm return chance to the bowler Keaton Jennings who accepted the catch with glee.

After lunch, captain Sam Northeast and Joe Weatherley dug in for 26.3 overs in adding 63 for the fourth wicket before Weatherley, the Hampshire loanee, departed for his fourth successive championship score in the thirties. Defending on the back foot, the 20-year-old was undone by low bounce as one from Gavin Main kept low to pluck out his off stump.

Darren Stevens came in to scratch around for 16 minutes without getting off the mark before he pushed at a Ryan Pringle delivery to be caught behind by Stuart Poynter stood up to the stumps.

Poynter was celebrating 10 runs later when Chris Rushworth's reintroduction at the Nackington Road End accounted for Will Gidman for the second time in the match. The Durham bowler, attacking from around the wicket, ran one away from the left-hander who feathered though to the keeper to go for three.

Early in the final session and fresh from his unbeaten century in the first innings, Northeast emulated his Durham counterpart Collingwood by notching a second-innings half-century.

Collingwood's bowling changes continued to work wonders and the fourth wicket in succession fell in the first over of a new stint. At 4.30pm Collingwood claimed the second new ball, tossed it to his attack leader Chris Rushworth and was rewarded with the wicket of Adam Rouse with the second delivery.

Playing back in defence, Rouse was adjudged lbw for 23 by umpire Steve Garratt although it appeared the Durham cordon had initially appealed for a catch at the wicket.

Rushworth landed another hammer blow by ending Northeast's 229-minute vigil for 72. The Kent skipper, who hit an unbeaten 109 in the first innings, missed out when aiming to leg and Garratt again raised the finger, much to Northeast's obvious displeasure.

Matt Coles, not known for his stoical batting, then joined forces with debutant Yasir Shah to take Kent into the last hour on 271 for eight. The ninth-wicket pair won their first battle in seeing off Rushworth who, after giving his all for 25 overs in a spell of three for 62, hobbled off for treatment to a stiff back.

Shah, working on the 'attack is the best form of defence' principle, unfurled a series of wristy flicks, cuts and drives to hit the ropes on five occasions before his partner Coles departed with under eight overs remaining.

Poking in defence at a shooting delivery, the left-hander went for lbw for 30 to give Matthew Potts, the 18-year-old Durham academy graduate, a maiden championship wicket on his first-team debut.

Durham looked for one final breakthrough, and it came down to a final over from Potts who bowled the last delivery of the match to Shah with six slips, two gully fielders and a short leg. The Pakistan all-rounder denied his fellow debutant, however, and the cheers were Kentish as the hosts maintained their push for promotion. Kent banked eight points to Durham's 12.

Day three report

Title-chasing Kent will need a backs-to-the-wall batting effort on Sunday if they are to protect their unbeaten Division Two status in the final day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Durham in Canterbury.

Having been set an unlikely target of 484 in a minimum of 90 overs, the hosts started their second innings just after 5.30pm and went in unscathed at stumps on 35 for nought - still needing 449 for an unlikely win.

Openers Daniel Bell-Drummond (17not out) and Sean Dickson (16no) escaped the 30-minute examination without alarm despite a pitch that is beginning to show signs of variable bounce.

Kent had started the day hanging on grimly in their first innings with skipper Sam Northeast leading their fight to avoid the follow-on. However, Paul Collingwood's side needed only 12 overs and 50 minutes' play to mop up Kent's two remaining first-innings wickets and secure a 212-run lead.

Barry McCarthy polished off the job when he had Yasir Shah caught behind by a tumbling Stuart Poynter for 48 and then, with his next delivery, snaring Mitchell Claydon lbw with the home score on 236.

Debutant Shah featured in a ninth-wicket stand worth 113 in 34.2 overs with his new captain Northeast, who was left unbeaten on 109.

McCarthy finished with a career-best six for 63, while Chris Rushworth bagged three for 69 in a much-improved Durham bowling performance.

Batting again before noon and after deciding not to enforce the follow-on, Durham suffered a near immediate blow with the loss of left-handed opener Keaton Jennings.

Prodding half-forward and inside the line of Darren Stevens' first delivery, an off-cutter, the ball thudded into the right pad forcing umpire Jeff Evans to raise his finger.

Stephen Cook needed a stroke of luck to survive with his score on 25. Driving loosely at one from Will Gidman he watched as Matt Coles, at second slip, dropped a tough chance diving in front of first slip.

After lunch, Durham continued at a surprisingly sedate pace, adding 100 in the mid-session for the loss of Stephen Cook who, with his score on 44, fenced at one from Claydon to edge to the keeper.

Kent's short-leg fielder Dickson went off for treatment just before tea when Graham Clark's full-blooded sweep against Shah struck him a fearful blow at the back of his neck and immediately drew blood.

Thankfully, the South Africa-born player emerged after the interval to take up a fielding spot on the ropes as Durham started to increase their run rate.

Cameron Steel miscued a hook against Coles to hole out to mid-wicket, then Clark, after reaching an 81-ball 50, was bowled around his legs by Shah.

In the quest for quicker runs Ryan Pringle was stumped off the bowling of Joe Denly and Stuart Poynter holed out to deep square leg to gift Shah his second scalp of the innings.

Collingwood upped the tempo further with a 49-ball, unbeaten 50 that took his side to 271 for six before his declaration with 10 overs remaining in the day.

Day two report

Rookie pace bowler Barry McCarthy bagged season's best figures of four for 52 to blow away Kent's top order and put Durham in the box seat at the mid-point of their Specsavers County Championship match in Canterbury.

Responding to Durham's 448 all out - their best total of the four-day campaign to date - promotion-chasing Kent slid to 123 for eight only to be salvaged by Sam Northeast's unbeaten 97 that took his side to stumps on 211 for eight after 53 overs.

The Kent skipper combined with Yasir Shah (37 not out) to add an unbroken 88 through to the close, though they still require another 88 runs to be spared the humiliation of following on for the first time this season.

Having batted for more than four sessions, Durham set about taking six Kent wickets during a 90-minute purple patch that sent the hosts reeling in at tea on 72 for six, with all six wickets falling from the Nackington Road end.

It was 24-year-old McCarthy who did the brunt of the damage, trapping Sean Dickson lbw and having Joe Denly caught behind early on, before Daniel Bell-Drummond nicked into the cordon to give the Irish seamer three for 15 in his opening burst.

Joe Weatherley had his middle stump plucked out before Will Gidman and Adam Rouse followed cheaply. Darren Stevens added just 14 before Matt Coles steered one to slip to leave the hosts struggling on 123 for eight, before Northeast and Yasir combined to see things through to the close.

Durham had earlier added a further 130 runs to their overnight score of 318 for five, collecting four batting bonus points thanks largely to a 34th first-class century from Paul Collingwood.

Collingwood had put on 67 for the sixth wicket with Stuart Poynter before the wicketkeeper had his off stump pegged back and Matthew Potts was dismissed for a four-ball duck on county debut in the same over.

Stevens, now 41, picked up his fifth five-wicket return of the season by ending Collingwood's 208-ball stay, before Chris Rushworth frustrated the attack with a maiden half-century.

McCarthy contributed 24 before a useful stay was ended when Yasir plucked out his off stump to become the Pakistan Test bowler's first scalp in Championship cricket. Soon after, Rushworth's 67-ball cameo of 57 ended when Bell-Drummond took a diving catch in the deep.

Day one report

Paul Collingwood led the way with an unbeaten 93 as Durham made a fine start to their Specsavers County Championship clash at Kent on a cut and thrust opening day.

Durham's veteran skipper went past 500 runs in only his sixth Division Two match this summer while a 141-run stand for the fifth wicket alongside Ryan Pringle (71) either side of tea lifted the visitors to 318 for five at Canterbury.

Collingwood, one of only six players from both sides still surviving from the previous championship clash between these two counties in 2010, escaped a couple of concerted appeals for lbw but otherwise appeared untroubled against a useful Kent attack.

That, for the first time, included Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who went wicketless in 20 overs, with opening bowlers Matt Coles and Darren Stevens claiming a couple of scalps apiece.

Yasir's inclusion came at the expense of James Tredwell, with the former England international jettisoned from Kent's squad having only bowled 32.4 overs to date this summer for a modest return of two for 106.

Durham, bottom of the standings, made a bright start against promotion-chasing Kent after winning the toss as openers Keaton Jennings and Stephen Cook survived a testing spell from Coles and Stevens in a 79-run stand.

Both batsmen departed within the space of seven deliveries as Jennings, on 43, lost his off stump to former Durham all-rounder Will Gidman's sixth ball of the match while Cook, having mustered a patient 25, played across the line to a full delivery from Coles to exit lbw.

Yasir came on at the Nackington Road End for the customary over before lunch, but was guilty of under-pitching in his maiden over in championship cricket.

The same could not be said of Stevens who, soon after the interval, drew Graham Clark (13) forward with an away-swinger that feathered the bat for a catch behind by Adam Rouse.

The veteran Kent all-rounder then bamboozled 21-year-old Cameron Steel, who pushed inside the line at one that nipped off the pitch to clip the top of off stump to depart for 34.

Kent ought to have had a fifth victim when Pringle, on eight, edged an attempted drive against Coles into the cordon only for Gidman to down a regulation, waist-high chance at second slip.

Collingwood went past 16,000 runs in his first-class career in posting his fourth 50 of the campaign in the final session from 84 balls and with eight fours. Then Pringle reached his 50 from 92 deliveries and with eight boundaries.

Pringle finally went to the second new ball after Coles got one to dart down the St Lawrence slope and take the toe end of the bat for Rouse to pull off a tumbling catch behind the timbers.

But Collingwood was unmoved until the close and he will resume his innings seven runs shy of a 34th first-class century.