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    One Day Cup hopes dented in Beckenham run feast

    3 June 2018

    Gloucestershire's chances of making the knockout stages of the Royal London One Day Cup took a hit at sunny Beckenham despite the team's highest score of the season in the competition against Kent.

    On an excellent pitch, skipper Chris Dent (63) and George Hankins (92) built a strong platform with a first wicket stand of 132, and with acceleration from Jack Taylor (53) and Ian Cockbain (68) in the latter part of the innings, Kent were set 323 to win.

    However having scored 384-8 on the same ground only 48 hours earlier, Kent responded with a well paced chase which centred on two centuries, one from opener Heino Kuhn - his second in successive matches - and the other from Joe Denly, who finished 109 not out when Kent reached their target in the 47th over.

    It means Gloucestershire must beat Middlesex in their final South Group game and hope three other resultsgo their way if they are to reach the play-offs.

     

    Gloucestershire again named an unchanged team and on a straw coloured pitch Chris Dent didn't take long to decide to bat first on a ground with short straight boundaries and a fast outfield.

    Dent struck Mitchell Claydon's first ball past backward point for four, and it set the tone for a brisk opening powerplay which in all contained 10 boundaries and a six, clipped by Dent off Claydon towards the pavilion at wide long on.

    With Hankins profitably punching the ball through the off side the pair scored at seven an over, and although the 21 year old had a greater share of the strike, Dent reached the rope three times in one Callum Haggett over to help put together a century stand in 15 overs, Hankins just pipping his skipper to his half century, made off 55 balls with seven fours.

    Dent's fifty came up on the board after he had driven Darren Stevens past extra cover, but it was Kent's veteran all rounder who proved the stand breaker, the Gloucestershire captain finding the safe hands of Haggett at mid wicket having made 63 off 51 balls.

    Benny Howell soon showed his intent, lifting slow left arm spinner Imran Qayyum over long on for six, and at 153-1 at half distance Gloucestershire would have been eyeing up a score of close to 350.

    The fact they ended up slightly short was primarily down to Stevens, who brought commendable control at one end and bowled his ten overs straight though for only 43 runs, as well as inducing a scoop shot from Benny Howell (15) which went straight to Mitchell Claydon at short fine leg.

    Roderick's brief cameo was ended by Denly's leg spin as he was caught at long on, and 13 overs remained when Hankins' increasingly patient progress towards a first List A century was ended eight runs short by the returning Matt Henry.

    It left Ian Cockbain and Jack Taylor to attack in the final powerplay, and both looked to relish the challenge as they added 99 in 12.1 overs, each clearing the boundary on three occasions. Taylor made 53, and Cockbain was run out for 68 in the last over as a flurry of late wickets left Kent chasing 323. It looked a score that would need excellent out cricket from Gloucestershire to defend, and so it proved.

    Chris Dent had spoken before the match about the attacking nature of Kent's top order, and four boundaries from Daniel Bell-Drummond and Heino Kuhn in the first two overs showed they had an immediate desire to match Gloucestershire's start.

    One early chance went down, Hankins failing to cling onto Bell-Drummond's edge off Matt Taylor when he'd made only 10. Hankins made amends in the last over of the powerplay at  mid wicket off Miles, but Bell-Drummond had added 30 runs to his personal tally and Kuhn looked like he was ready to bat long into the Kent innings, especially with the experienced Denly alongside him.

    In the end, it was the stand between the South African and the highly rated Denly which steered the match towards the home side, both men playing an array of shots all around the wicket with a combination of good placement, timing and in some cases expansive power.

    Kuhn's straight six off Matt Taylor brought up the century stand in 16 overs, and when Denly lofted Higgins over mid on to tick up Kent's 200, there were still 19 overs remaining on a wicket that offered no help to the Gloucestershire bowlers.

    Kuhn duly completed his second hundred in three days from 90 balls, and only when the partnership had reached 186 - a record for any Kent wicket in List A cricket against Gloucestershire - did he depart for 113, Hankins take his second catch of the match on the boundary off Chris Liddle.

    Craig Miles' fine return catch accounted for Sam Billings but left to get 64 from the last ten overs, Kent were seen home by Denly and Alex Blake, Denly reaching his century off 104 balls and Blake brutally attacking with the target in sight to take 22 from one Miles over.

    It had been a polished run chase from a side very much in form, 

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