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Durham vs kent at stockton
Kent wrap it up
Result: Kent won by 95 runs
Points: Kent 17, Durham 4
Kent appeal for an LBW against Jimmy Maher
Photo: © M R Fletcher
KENT wrapped up an impressive 95-run win over Durham despite a stand 141 between Jimmy Maher and Dale Benkenstein. Kent's lead was boosted by a stand of 121 by Andrew Hall and Niall O'Brien before early inroads were made through Amjad Khan and Min Patel. Maher and Benkenstein then formed their fine alliance as Robert Key tried all his options. It was a run out that finally removed Benkenstein and when Maher fell for 99, Kent's spinners took their chance. They were made to wait by a stubborn stand of 45 between Gareth Breese and Moneeb Iqbal but James Tredwell and Min Patel wrapped it up.
Justin time for Kent
Justin Kemp pulls Ottis Gibson for six
Photo: © M R Fletcher
Overnight Day 2 : Kent lead by 253 runs with 3 wickets remaining
Kent 179 & 301/7 (47 ov)
Durham 227
JUSTIN KEMP hit an amazing 70-ball 118 as Kent wrestled the initiative away from Durham. Ottis Gibson had put Durham on top with three early strikes after they had eked out a 38-run lead. However a stand of 174 between Kemp and Darren Stevens hurried the game their way. Kemp displayed the awesome hitting power he has shown in one-day internationals and launched 21 fours and two sixes in an incredible onslaught. Stevens had earlier been the surprise package with the ball as he sent down 27 overs of medium pace and took four wickets. His all-round show and Kemp's blitz has left Kent well placed on a surface helping the bowlers.
1st day Report
Out of Town but not out of Favour
Edward Craig at Stockton
June 13, 2006
OUT GROUND cricket these days is not particularly fashionable for counties: too expensive to move all the required technical support; too much of a lottery when it comes to quality of pitch; too many moans from county staff that the changing rooms are too small. It is much more bother than its worth.
Gordon Muchall drives Darren Stevens for four
Photo: © M R Fletcher
Yet it was something equally unfashionable that had driven Durham to schedule this week's fixture against Kent at Stockton - Elton John. Thanks to a concert on Saturday at the Riverside (and an impending one-day international), this suburban district played host to a Championship game for the 11th time since Durham became a first-class county.
Stockton is a suburban town, just outside Middlesbrough and the ground, while clearly not blessed with the architectural beauty of Durham City or even the Chester-le-Street ground, has a gentle, picturesque atmosphere. Out-ground cricket may be dying - or regularly ignored - but here's a prime example why it shouldn't be.
Stockton CC is a successful club in the high-class North-East Premier League - the same league the Durham Academy play in. Lee Daggett, the young Warwickshire swing bowler who dismissed Durham at Edgbaston for 141 last week, played here while at Durham University, so this is an area - and a pitch - clearly immersed in the county's cricketing fortunes.
And the ground was full of passionate fans, most bedecked in Durham logos on shirts and caps, the bar and food stalls didn't stop and the crowd could hear the players' chatter and the general noise of the game, something never too clear at most headquarters. Okay, the quality of the wicket might not have matched the quality of the atmosphere - but it did produce entertainment.
A slow morning session that ended with Kent on 100 for 2 - David Fulton battled to 27 from 105 balls, Martin van Jaarsveld 59 from 127 - gave way to fireworks in the afternoon. Ottis Gibson found rhythm and swing as the sun disappeared and Kent lost five for five in eight overs. A brief blitz from Andrew Hall and Darren Stevens, then the tail collapsed - all out 179. This may be the lottery pitch counties try to avoid but only two of the dismissals - van Jaasveld and Jon Lewis in Durham's reply - could really blame demons. The only other demons were in the batsmen's heads, worried about what could (but rarely did) happen, as the home side's top order showed.
As the Kent batsmen came and went from the changing rooms at square leg - the building looks more like a working men's club than a sporting facility - the Durham crowd's buzz increased. Gibson and Graham Onions kept striking from the Grangefield Road end and the bar beside the pavilion, designed bizarrely like a football dugout giving the patron's a sunken, worm-eye view, became busy through celebration and compulsory refreshment. The locals were on top and enjoying the day out.
But the politics of staging such games are enormous and in the north-east, with such an isolated and young first-class county, these politics are worse. The clubs need endorsement and financial support from local councils, then they need to prove they are the best alternative in the area, before crossing their fingers and hoping the county simply likes them and can be bothered to move from home for a few days. It is no surprise Durham, like many other counties, avoid out-ground fixtures unless their own marketing department - along with an international pop star - compels them to.
But the members love the day out - 300 can seem like 3000 in this close and intimate surrounds - many who find it difficult to travel to Chester-le-Street have cricket coming to their doorstep and they don't want to waste the opportunity. It really does bring cricket to the people and is a good experience of high-quality sport in a relaxed and accessible atmosphere.
So maybe it was the informality of the setting that did for Kent's first innings - their skipper Rob Key was playing frisbee on the outfield during lunch in flip-flops and shorts - but then this is the charm and the reason out grounds are great: kids throw balls around next to a first-class captain enjoying his break. It's not going to happen at Lord's ...
Edward Craig is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer
Article appeared on cricinfo.com
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