Emphatic win for Kent

3 July 2009

James Tredwell offered fine support for Azhar Mahmood, taking 4-89 with his off-spin to wrap up Kent's win

Kent claimed Gloucestershire’s last five wickets inside two hours of the final day at Beckenham to wrap up a 76-run win and move within nine points of the lead in LV= County Championship Division Two with a game in hand.

It was all-rounder Azhar Mahmood who dealt the death blow, with only his second delivery with the second new ball the Pakistani nibbled one away off the seam to have last man Steven Kirby caught at second slip by Martin van Jaarsveld to wrap up Kent’s third win of the season.

It gave Mahmood excellent figures of 5-39, helped Kent bank 18 points while van Jaarsveld pocketed a sixth catch in a surprisingly low-scoring game of only three half-centuries, two of which also went to the South African.

Kent needed a good slice of luck before making their first breakthrough of the day to dismiss left-hander Vikram Banerjee for a single.

Leaning back to force a short ball from James Tredwell through the covers, the ball duly ricocheted off the right knee of van Jaarsveld at silly point to be caught by Rob Key at slip.

Mahmood took a fourth wicket when Steve Snell padded up to an off-cutter to go leg before. Then first-innings hero Simon Cook got in on the act by having Gemaal Hussain caught in the cordon off an edged defensive push.

With the game slipping from their grasp, Gloucestershire eventually found a modicum of resistance in the form of a ninth-wicket partnership between Jon Lewis and James Franklin, who added 57 in 13 overs.

Surprisingly, tail-ender Lewis was the dominant partner with 42, indeed eight of his first nine scoring shots were boundaries as the home side kept men around the bat.

The stand came to an end 15 minutes before the scheduled lunch break when New Zealand all-rounder Franklin (41) was enticed by a floated, wider delivery from Tredwell that found the edge for Geraint Jones to pull off a fine catch standing up.

Tredwell finished with respectable figures of 4-89.

Knowing the end was nigh, Lewis continued to go for his shots and his 61 from 49 balls included 10 fours and two sixes. He was just one short of equalling his career-best when Kirby nicked one from Mahmood to spark Kent’s victory celebrations.