Gloucestershire made to toil by Billings and Stevens
24 August 2016
A mid afternoon spell by Matt Taylor in which he took the wickets of Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sam Northeast wasn't in isolation enough to keep Kent within range of Gloucestershire's first innings score of 221 on the second day of this Championship match at the Brightside Ground.
Brought together at 28-2, the pair added 98 in 29 overs either side of lunch, but their departures having both made half centuries only served to change the pace of the game as Sam Billings and Darren Stevens accelerated against an old ball and on a pitch that offered less and less to the bowlers.
98 runs in 20 overs until tea meant Kent were in front ahead of the final session, and wicket keeper Billings and veteran all rounder Stevens had added 205 together for the fifth wicket when bad light ended play early with the visitors 346-4, 125 runs ahead. Stevens had made an unbeaten 121 by stumps, while Billings will resume on the third day 86 not out.
Listen to head coach Richard Dawson's views on the day here :
Gloucestershire knew their use of the new ball would play a big part on the second day, and David Payne and Liam Norwell's opening burst brought two wickets and the threat of more.
Payne struck in the first over of the morning, getting immediate movement through the air to deceive Sean Dickson, who was lbw for 0 without playing a stroke. Norwell started with five successive maidens and Bell-Drummond survived a strong appeal for a second lbw in Payne's favour as both the former Millfield pupil and Joe Denly were kept on the defensive.
Norwell's miserly stint deserved a wicket and it was Denly (6) who pushed at a good length ball and wicktkeeper Mustard took a routine catch.
Bell-Drummond had played stylishly for the England Lions at the Cheltenham Festival and again here the majority of his runs came on the off side, though by no means as quickly as the Gloucestershire bowlers restricted early opportunities to score.
His partner Sam Northeast needed only five runs for 1,000 in the Championship this summer, and while he edged past that milestone the Kent skipper found runs equally hard to come by after Matt Taylor and Craig Miles were introduced.
It took 21 overs for Kent to accumulate 50 runs, and twice Miles was unfortunate not to remove Northeast. First he looped a false shot just over the head of Marshall at short cover, and then a confident appeal for a catch at the wicket was turned down by umpire Paul Baldwin but at lunch the third wicket pair were still together and Kent were 78-2, 143 behind.
Breaking what threatened to become the equivalent of the Marshall/Mustard partnership on the first day was important to retain a foothold in the game, and it was Matt Taylor who took two wickets in a spell where he switched to bowling around the wicket.
First Bell-Drummond, who had completed his fifty with a straight drive off Norwell - his ninth of his innings - was caught behind by Mustard for 65 after Taylor got one to lift sharply off a good length, and then Northeast, whose half century contained 10 boundaries, was smartly caught at slip by Klinger with Kent still 80 runs in arrears.
It was at this point that the day changed gear as Darren Stevens joined wicket keeper Billings, whose approach to batting had been more positive than anyone else in the match.
He set himself by sweetly timing a couple of straight drives and Stevens soon picked up his partner's tempo as the boundaries started to tick up all around the wicket despite Gloucestershire captain Gareth Roderick regularly switching his bowlers.
More than 100 runs out of 161 scored in the afternoon session came in boundaries, with Stevens cleanly picking up a delivery from Miles and clearing the rope at long on. A reverse sweep off Jack Taylor by Billings not only brought up his fifty from 55 balls with 11 fours but also took Kent ahead overall, and by tea they were 18 runs to the good at 239-4 with power to add in the final session.
As on the first day, both teams knew there would be an hour's cricket before the new ball became due, and with both batsmen well set Kent were in no mood to give away the momentum they had built up.
Stevens brought up his own half century, made from 70 balls with eight fours and six soon after the resumption, and he raced from 50-100 in only 44 balls with six further boundaries as well as striking Jack Taylor's off spin into the crowd in front of the pavilion.
Billings - who reverse swept Taylor with confidence - also continued to score steadily and when the new ball was taken Kent's patient start to the day had been transformed with a stand of 205 in only 38 overs.
Payne and Norwell had bowled only an over each with the second new ball when the light became too gloomy to continue shortly after 5.30pm.
14 overs were lost, and Gloucestershire start the third day in the same position as 24 hours earlier - needing early wickets to avoid scoreboard pressure being on them in the second innings for the second match running.
