Kent v Northamptonshire: Scores and match report

Match scores (Beckenham)

Kent draw with Northamptonshire

Kent 1st inns: 701-7 dec (Dickson 318, Denly 182, Bell-Drummond 49, Billings 42; Holden 2-59)

Northants 1st inns: 568 (Holden 153, Rossington 112, Duckett 105, Newton 57; Yasir 4-165, Hunn 3-90)

Kent 2nd inns: 184-3 (Denly 78*, Dickson 60; Sanderson 1-7)

Day four report 

Kent and Northamptonshire played out a high-scoring draw at Beckenham after the visitors comfortably made the 24 more runs they required to avoid the follow-on early on the final day.

Northants, resuming on 528 for seven in reply to Kent's mammoth 701 for seven declared, were eventually bowled out for 568.

Kent then replied with 184 for three in sizzling temperatures, in front of a sparse crowd, and they took 11 points from this Specsavers County Championship Division Two match and Northants nine.

Daniel Bell-Drummond played on to Ben Sanderson on five, but Sean Dickson made 60 in a second-wicket stand of 101 with Joe Denly, who went on to 78 not out before hands were shaken at 4.50pm.

Denly, who made 182 in Kent's first innings, now has more than 900 championship runs this season, at an average above 60, with three hundreds and four more scores above fifty.

Dickson, the first-innings triple-centurion, skied Max Holden's off spin to cover after totalling 378 runs in the match, while Denly took his match run aggregate to 260.

Captain Sam Northeast kept Denly company against an assortment of Northants slow bowling, which included the offerings of wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, with skipper Alex Wakely deputising behind the stumps.

As the game meandered to its conclusion, to their credit Kent's batsmen did not try to smash the gentle bowling to all parts, merely walking singles into the deep field amid the odd boundary.

Northeast, in fact, gifted Ben Duckett his maiden first-class wicket when he skied an attempted big hit at a full toss to cover on 27. Adam Rouse finished eight not out.

At the start of the day, Northants did not lose another wicket until the follow-on target of 552 had been passed, with Josh Cobb off-driving Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah for four to take his side beyond that score.

Graeme White, on 11, then skied Shah to mid-on before both Nathan Buck and Sanderson fell cheaply to leave Cobb 34 not out.

Buck was leg-before to Shah as he shaped to play to leg off the back foot, while Sanderson slogged James Tredwell's off-spin to mid-on to go for a duck.

Northants' 568 was a record total in first-class cricket against Kent, beating the previous best of 561 for eight declared at Canterbury in 1995. 

Day three report

Northamptonshire batsmen Max Holden and Adam Rossington filled their boots in sublime batting conditions at Beckenham where Northamptonshire reached 528 for seven in their first-innings reply to Kent's mammoth 701 for seven declared.

The visiting fifth-wicket partners joined forces to bat through the entire mid-session and well into the final hour before Holden fell for a career-best 153.

Soon after, Rossington followed him back to the pavilion for a season's best 112, leaving Kent's rookie seamer Matt Hunn to finish a tiring day with decent figures of three for 90.

Requiring 552 simply to avoid the follow-on, Northamptonshire resumed on their overnight score of 180 for one and suffered a huge blow to their survival aspirations when Ben Duckett perished to only the sixth ball of the day.

The diminutive left-hander, who hit a sublime double-century on this ground last season, leant back to club Matt Coles' fourth ball through mid-on to move to 105 but, in aiming an expansive drive two deliveries later, edged behind to Sam Billings, who was standing in for Adam Rouse behind the stumps.

Coles gave way at the Beckenham End after a spirited seven-over spell of one for 26 to be replaced by Hunn, who also enjoyed success in his first over of the day.

Alex Wakely, the Northamptonshire skipper, misjudged the line of Hunn's fourth delivery, shouldering arms to one that pegged back off stump to make it 219 for two.

At the Worsley Bridge Road End, Pakistan wrist-spinner Yasir Shah whirled away in a wicketless, 11-over opening stint. He got the occasional delivery to turn, while one to Holden spat alarmingly from the footholds, only to balloon to safety.

Yasir then switched ends to bamboozle Rob Keogh with a darting top-spinner that rushed past his back-foot force to peg back off stump in the penultimate over before lunch. It proved to be Yasir's sole success from 34 overs bowled during the day.

Kent took the second new ball immediately after the re-start and, despite lung-busting efforts by Coles and Mitch Claydon, they were unable to make any impact other than beating the outside edge half-a-dozen times.

Pretty soon, spinners James Tredwell and Yasir were twirling away in tandem with three or four close fielders around the bat, but Northamptonshire stood firm with Holden, the Middlesex loanee, reaching a patient half-century from 146 balls, with only five fours.

Rossington, the more aggressive of the pair, needed only 59 deliveries to reach the milestone, hitting seven fours and a six along the way, as Kent continued to toil throughout the mid-session without success.

After tea, Holden, the wiry left-hander, notched his second century in Northamptonshire's colours from 216 balls and with 13 boundaries, while Rossington, seemingly content to bat time, went into his shell.

Holden received a healthy round of applause from the visiting dressing-room balcony when passing 124 - his previous first-class best scored against Durham at Chester-le-Street last month - and they went up again soon after for Rossington's 100, scored off 132 balls with 11 fours and a six. It was his first ton of the summer and the sixth of his career.

Their run-fest and a stand of 239 ended when Holden, aiming an ambitious short-armed jab to a length-ball from Hunn, clipped to deep square-leg where Rouse, taking a rest from keeping, took a stunning diving catch on the ropes to send Holden packing after five hours at the crease.

Rossington followed just before stumps for 112, wearily chasing a wide one from Hunn to be caught behind, and then Coles came on to have Steven Crook well caught at second slip by Tredwell to give Kent their sixth success of an arduous day in the dirt.

Day two report

Sean Dickson scored 318 as batsmen thrived and records tumbled on another run-filled day in the Specsavers County Championship clash between Kent and Northamptonshire at Beckenham.

Dickson's triple-century not only smashed his previous first-class best return but it was also the best individual score by a Kent batsman on home soil. The South Africa-born opener also wrote himself into the record books with his 382-run stand with Joe Denly (182), which is the biggest partnership for any wicket in the county's history.

Their performances helped the hosts run up a massive 701 for seven declared - the county's highest first-class total in Kent- but the runs continued to flow when Northamptonshire came out to bat as they closed day two on 180 for one.

Ben Duckett finished on 101 not out, reaching three figures in the penultimate over following an opening stand of 113 with Rob Newton, who made 57 before lifting a drive from Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah to short extra cover.

Duckett's innings helped ensure Northamptonshire did not wilt in pursuit of such a huge total, but the day belonged to Dickson. The 25-year-old, who is a UK passport holder and whose mother hails from Beckenham, fell just 14 runs short of Bill Ashdown's Kent individual record of 332, made against Essex at Brentwood in 1934.

But he at least passed Ashdown's 305 not out, against Derbyshire at Dover in 1935, which was the previous highest score by a Kent player in a home match. Dickson faced 408 balls, across almost eight and a half hours at the crease, and hit three sixes and 31 fours.

Denly, meanwhile, finished with five sixes and 15 fours in his 182, which came off 226 balls.

And it was Denly's cracking hook shot for four off Nathan Buck which took the partnership with Dickson to 369 and - in one stroke - past Kent's previous record stands of 368 and 366.

The mammoth second-wicket stand was finally ended with the total on 511 when Denly holed out in the deep from Rob Keogh's off spin, but that was not the end of the misery for the Northamptonshire bowlers.

Dickson, who resumed overnight on 210 with the hosts on 434 for one, kept going on a featherbed pitch to become only the second Kent player after Ashdown to score a first-class triple-hundred.

His stay at the crease eventually finished when he skied Max Holden's occasional off-breaks to long on, but his contribution - along with those of Sam Northeast (38), Sam Billings (42) and Matt Coles (24) - helped Kent reach 701.

It was their second highest in first-class cricket behind the 803 for four they made in that match at Brentwood 83 years ago.

Faced with such a daunting total, it would have come as little surprise to see Northamptonshire struggle as they started their reply.

Duckett, who made 208 on this ground last season, and Newton both rode their luck early on but emerged unscathed to lay a solid platform.

Following Newton's departure, Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely also showed fight to reach stumps on 14, but his side still face a long two days to avoid defeat. 

Day one report

Sean Dickson hit a career-best unbeaten double century and Joe Denly notched his third hundred of the summer as Kent enjoyed a first-day run fest in their Specsavers County Championship match with Northamptonshire at Beckenham.

Kent cashed in on a friendly Worsley Bridge Road pitch, winning the toss and posting 434 for one after 96 overs, with Dickson and Denly unbeaten on 210 and 143 respectively as Sam Northeast's promotion-chasers racked up maximum batting bonus points at a canter.

The total already represents Kent's best at this venue, while Dickson's 210 is the highest individual score at the ground, beating Ben Duckett's 207 not out here last season.

Dickson also became the first Kent player in history to post double tons as his first two first-class centuries for the county.

In adding an unbroken 305 the pair also moved past the previous second-wicket record of 260 against Northamptonshire set by Arthur Fagg and Frank Woolley at Canterbury in 1934.

And when Denly pulled a short one from Nathan Buck for four in the day's penultimate over, he raised their 300 stand to beat Kent's record for any wicket against Northants of 296 set by Ken Hutchings and Frank Woolley at Gravesend in 1908. 

For good measure, the stand is also a record for any wicket at the ground.

As for Northamptonshire, they will look to their ill fortune earlier in the day when they might have dismissed Dickson twice before he had even reached three figures.

Dickson, the 25-year-old South African right-hander, joined forces with fellow opener Daniel Bell-Drummond to post 129 either side of lunch - their second-best partnership of the season behind their 172 against Sussex at Tunbridge Wells last month.

Bell-Drummond went one short of his half-century soon after lunch when edging a back-foot defensive push to the keeper off Ben Sanderson and it transpired to be the visitors' sole success of the day.

Dickson was on 35 when he survived a concerted shout for lbw by Buck then, with his score on 97, Dickson drove hard at an outswinger from Buck only to be given the benefit of the doubt in the face of another loud appeal for a catch behind the stumps.

With luck on his side, Dickson marched on to a 165-ball 100 with 10 fours and a six before Denly reached the milestone from 132 balls with six fours and three sixes.

Northamptonshire tried seven bowlers and delayed taking the second new ball in a desperate bid to curtail the run-rate but, when they finally did take the new cherry, their worst fears were realised as Denly cracked it to all parts in a sublime display of driving.

Just before the close, Dickson clipped the expensive Steven Crook sweetly off his pads to hit the ropes for a 20th time and raise his double hundred from 280 balls.