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Gloucestershire take control on final day, but resilient Kent hold on for a draw

21 April 2025

Gloucestershire were left to rue an over-cautious declaration when their Rothesay County Championship with Kent ended at Canterbury in a draw.

Tom Price almost single-handedly injected life into what was becoming a tedious final day by reducing Kent to 49 for four with 22 overs remaining, but despite some middle order tremors, the visitors dug in to reach 124 for six. England’s Zak Crawley anchored the defence with an unbeaten 54 from 112 balls, and Grant Stewart finished on 16 not out, keeping his head during a tense finale that went to the final over.

The visitors batted deeply, arguably too deeply, into the afternoon session before setting a notional target of 413 to win from 41 overs, after declaring on 335 for five, Miles Hammond making 89, Graeme van Buuren 58 and Ollie Price 56. Tom Price finished with figures of four for 33.

Few expected this game to go the distance after 36 overs were lost on day three, and the word from the Gloucestershire camp on Sunday night was that they were reluctant to set a low target because of the way Kent chased down 316 last week to beat Middlesex.

They resumed on 112 for two, a lead of 191 and Ollie Price and Hammond at least began like a duo who knew they’d have to score quickly if there was any chance of forcing a result.

Hammond was the more expansive of the two, passing 50 from 79 deliveries with a cover drive off Jas Singh, while Price was more pedestrian, taking 116 balls to reach the same landmark with a single off Jack Leaning.

The pace slowed, however, until after an hour and fifty minutes of mounting tedium, a wicket finally fell when Leaning had Ollie Price caught behind by the sub wicket-keeper Chris Benjamin.

It was 233 for three at lunch, with the lead 312 and 66 overs remaining. Things threatened to get at least semi-interesting when Cam Green was lbw to Joey Evison in the first over after the resumption and Leaning then had Hammond caught by Tawanda Muyeye at first slip in the next over, but no further wickets fell until Gloucestershire declared at just after 3pm, by which time van Buuren had helped himself to a half-century against the part time spinners and a chase was no longer viable.

A collapse was, however, and visiting hopes flared when Tom Price had first innings centurion Ben Compton caught behind off for one and Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw for two.

Kent were on a fragile eight for two at tea and with Crawley in what might be described as sub-optimal form Gloucestershire scented an opportunity, but they were frustrated for the next 10 overs and the game was drifting until Price took another couple of wickets, getting Muyeye lbw and Leaning caught by Cameron Bancroft at second slip.

That was enough to convince Gloucestershire to keep going after 5 pm, the earliest time the teams could have shaken hands on the draw.

Just as Kent started to feel safe again, Josh Shaw sent Joey Evison’s off-stump flying for a 36-ball 15, and Harry Finch, batting with a broken finger, was caught by Hammond at first slip off Ollie Price. At that point, there were still 7.3 overs remaining, but Grant Stewart survived, the only major scare coming from an inside edge off Shaw that went perilously close to the stumps.

Crawley endured a couple of alarms in Ollie Price’s penultimate over, leaving Shaw to try and take four wickets with the last six balls.

Stewart blocked the first and drove the next two for fours to ensure Kent survived.

Gloucestershire (16 points) 472 and 335 for five declared. Kent (14 points) 393 and 124 for six.

DAY FOUR HIGHLIGHTS

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