Kent v Durham Royal London One Day Cup

IN what looked like a Canterbury canter yesterday Durham somehow contrived to let Kent off the hook and slipped to a second Royal London Cup defeat.

Kent looked doomed on 154 for six with 15 overs left in reply to 271 for seven, but an amazing recovery was launched by 23-year-old wicketkeeper Sam Billings.

His audacious strokes brought him 64 off 54 balls and the task was completed by England one-day spinner James Tredwell, whose unbeaten 38 off 33 balls saw his side home by two wickets with four balls left.

Scotsman Calum MacLeod proved he is not just a Twenty20 specialist as he provided the ballast in Durham’s innings by making 94.

Ben Stokes also played a big part after being dropped by England, hitting 50 and including the crucial scalp of Kent skipper Rob Key in his two wickets.

But when Tredwell and Calum Haggett both pulled him for six in his final over Kent needed 37 off six and in the end it was ex-Durham man Mitch Claydon who helped Tredwell to haul the Spitfires overs the line.

On a pitch lacking pace MacLeod was not as fluent as he would have liked, hitting only eight fours in his 139- ball stay, but he did an important job after going in to face the third ball.

As the twilight period can be awkward for batting in floodlit matches, Mark Stoneman would be pleased to win the toss again.

But his one-day woes continued as he fell lbw second ball to Claydon, who bowled as though he had a point to prove and had taken two for 18 in seven excellent overs until he conceded 16 in the 47th.

That was when Keaton Jennings and Gareth Breese were putting on 44 in the last 4.3 overs after MacLeod had hit a full toss from Australian left-armer Doug Bollinger straight to deep mid-wicket.

While Stokes was contributing 50 to a third-wicket stand of 87 in 16 overs Durham looked likely to top 300.

Kent blundered by gambling on the occasional leftarm spin of 21-year-old Fabian Cowdrey, son of Chris, when Stokes had made five off 15 balls.

After his recent struggle for runs it seemed foolish to offer him easy pickings and a fierce straight drive brought the first of three fours in the over, which got him going.

When Stokes lifted Tredwell for six Durham were 151 for two after 30 overs.

But just as they were approaching the point when they had to take the batting powerplay Stokes was bowled by former England Under 19 seamer Haggett straight after completing his 55-ball half-century.

Paul Collingwood then departed second ball, clipping Haggett to mid-wicket, and when Durham took the powerplay only 27 runs came from five overs.

Kent, in contrast, took 49 off the first four overs of their powerplay with the previously miserly Chris Rushworth conceding 29 in two overs.

Despite his two early wickets at Taunton, it was Graham Onions who made way for Stokes. But John Hastings and Rushworth quickly throttled Kent’s reply, both conceding only 16 runs in five-over opening spells.

Only two runs had come in three overs when Sam Northeast drove at Rushworth and was bowled, then former West Indian Test batsman Brendan Nash scratched around for 20 balls in making four. He was squared up by Collingwood and edged to Stokes at gully.

Rob Key had dominated the scoring, hitting two sixes, but after making 47 off 57 balls he was bowled by Stokes’ third ball.

That left a big burden on the shoulders of Darren Stevens, the only remaining experienced batsman, and he departed for 22 when a lofted drive off Collingwood was very well caught by Borthwick.

A Durham win looked a formality, but with Haggett contributing 36 the Kent tail wagged ferociously and Durham now go to South Northumberland tomorrow to face a Warwickshire side who have won their first two games.

SCOREBOARD

At Canterbury

Durham
M D Stoneman lbw b Claydon..........0
P Mustard c Claydon b Stevens ......38
C S MacLeod c Blake b Bollinger...94
B A Stokes b Haggett ........................50
P D Collingwood c Key b Haggett ..1
G J Muchall c Cowdrey b Bollinger 13
J W Hastings b Claydon....................14
G R Breese not out.............................19
K K Jennings not out ..........................26
Extras (b3 lb5 w8 pens 0) 16
Total 7 wkts Innings Complete
(50 overs) .......................... 271
Fall: 1-0 2-73 3-160 4-162 5-197 6-223
7-227
Did Not Bat: S G Borthwick, C
Rushworth.
Bowling: Claydon 9-1-41-2. Bollinger
9-0-52-2. Stevens 10-0-44-1. Haggett
10-0-54-2. Tredwell 10-0-55-0.
Cowdrey 2-0-17-0.

Kent
S A Northeast b Rushworth..............10
R W Key b Stokes...............................47
B P Nash c Stokes b Collingwood..4
D I Stevens c Borthwick b
Collingwood .........................................22
F K Cowdrey c Mustard b Rushworth28
A J Blake b Stokes ..............................4
S W Billings c Muchall b Rushworth.64
C J Haggett b Hastings .....................36
J C Tredwell not out ............................38
M E Claydon not out...........................7
Extras (lb10 w4 pens 0) ....14
Total 8 wkts (49.2 overs).274
Fall: 1-28 2-49 3-79 4-95 5-108 6-154
7-203 8-245
Did Not Bat: D E Bollinger.
Bowling: Hastings 8.2-1-46-1.
Rushworth 10-0-59-3. Collingwood 10-
1-42-2. Breese 10-0-56-0. Stokes 10-0-
53-2. Borthwick 1-0-8-0.
Kent (2pts) beat Durham (0pts) by 2 wkts