Northamptonshire Secure Fifth Draw

Northamptonshire moved up to seventh on the Division One table after a fifth draw of the season against Kent at The County Ground.

Northamptonshire started the day needing 23 more runs to avoid the threat of the follow-on. Matt Quinn and Darren Stevens kept things tight early on during a tense opening 20 minutes which saw Tom Taylor fall, caught at second slip, without a run being added in five overs.

Gareth Berg opted for the attacking option, taking Northamptonshire to the brink of safety by lofting George Linde for six over long-on while Lewis McManus, batting with an injured finger, posted a hugely valuable undefeated fifty, his second since joining Northamptonshire on loan this season.

Ben Sanderson freed his arms, unfurling a string of crunching cover drives in a last wicket stand with McManus worth 54 before Daniel Bell-Drummond ended the fun by knocking back Sanderson’s off-stump just before lunch.

After the interval, Crawley showed intent from the outset with a straight driven boundary off Sanderson. Northamptonshire’s opening bowlers though kept things tight and Crawley and Curran were content to play the ball on merit and leave well alone outside off. Kelly proving particularly miserly, with 3 maidens in a five over opening spell that conceded just 2 runs.

After tea, Northamptonshire turned to their part-time bowlers to see out the remaining overs. Crawley’s innings ended after 138 balls when he offered Curran a maiden first-class wicket, lofting straight to long-on.

Kent 519/9d (Sanderson 2/82, Keogh 2/104) & 170/1 (Curran 1/31)
Northamptonshire 430 (Procter 76, Vasconcelos 71)

Full Scorecard.