Kent battle to parity
Ryan Sidebottom continued to bowl like a Test lynchpin despite a thrilling fightback by Kent on day two against Nottinghamshire in LV County Championship Division One.
The all-powerful Notts seam attack foundered briefly at Trent Bridge, in the face of rearguard half-centuries from Ryan McLaren (57) and Yasir Arafat (67) in a Kent total of 238, giving them a first-innings lead of 36.
Notts had to wipe out an unexpected, albeit manageable, deficit - but by stumps on day two had already raced to 106 for two second time round, thanks to an unbeaten 50 from Matt Wood, in this topsy-turvy match.
The spectre of Sidebottom and Stuart Broad dictated there was no place for Darren Pattinson, who took eight wickets in Nottinghamshire’s landslide victory over these opponents at Canterbury last month.
But neither Broad, Sidebottom nor Charlie Shreck had any answer as McLaren - with his best score for Kent - and Arafat combined in an eighth-wicket stand of 67.
Sidebottom took 5-55 and remained a threat, sending down a morning spell of 1-11 in eight overs to go with his three wickets last night and one more this afternoon.
Yasir Arafat led the Kent fightback with 67 Broad, part of the successful England attack against New Zealand this winter, finished with figures of 1-71 in 14, struggled to find his range.
Kent’s improvement with the bat was a remarkable turnaround from the hapless five for four they had shortly before the close of day one - when Sidebottom had found devastating swing to almost eliminate the top order.
The Yorkshire-born seamer was man of the series in New Zealand and is identified by Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori as the Englishman he fears more than any other for the impending start of the rematch.
On a glorious morning he made short work of opener James Tredwell, with trademark late swing to beat forward defence and clip the left-hander’s off bail.
Broad failed with an attempted direct hit from mid-on to run out Justin Kemp, with his first over dispatched for 10 - Geraint Jones cutting the first ball for four.
Broad hit back in his next over, getting rid of Kemp who nibbled at one shaping away to be caught at slip.
Charlie Shreck showed his value to Notts with 2-48 McLaren joined Jones in an encouraging partnership which ended when the ex-England wicketkeeper pushed forward to an innocuous delivery from Shreck which he might have left but swung away just enough to take the edge for caught behind.
That was the final ball before lunch, leaving McLaren to start the afternoon with Arafat as his new partner, and in 18 overs they changed the momentum of the match.
McLaren profited mostly from Broad’s vain pursuit of swing, driving impressively down the ground for the majority of his 10 fours from 102 balls.
Arafat tucked into Samit Patel’s left-arm spin to get moving towards a 70-ball fifty.
Along the way, he lost McLaren to an edge behind cutting at the third ball of a new spell from Mark Ealham.
Sidebottom, who narrowly failed in a manful attempt to pull off a one-handed diving catch at long-leg from Robbie Joseph’s hook at Broad, returned to complete his five-wicket haul - again with the third ball of a new spell when the number ten Robbie Joseph edged to slip.
Arafat finally went to Patel, picked up in classic fashion to the last ball of the afternoon when he too edged to slip to close the innings.
Opener Will Jefferson was gone before Nottinghamshire were back in credit - McLaren pinning him lbw on off-stump.
But number three Mark Wagh hit his first ball from McLaren through the off-side for four as runs flowed with a conspicuous ease.
By the close, Wagh had gone lbw to an Arafat cutter, but Wood kept finding the boundary on his way to a maiden half-century for these employers, in what has become an intriguing contest.
Ryan Sidebottom was brilliant again with 5-55 for his county
