Kent blast ultimately futile

Rob Key hit 76 not out but bad light denied Kent the bonus point they craved

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Joe Denly and Robert Key's hectic opening stand lent a late glow - but Kent fell short of an extra bonus point - in a frustrating conclusion to their rain-induced stalemate against Surrey.

In an LV County Championship Division One match which ultimately confirmed the hosts as credible title outsiders and their visitors as odds-on relegation favourites, the Kent pair provided the lasting memories.

Needing an unlikely 200 from 34 overs for another point, after Surrey declared on 307 for nine at tea, Denly (80) and Key (76no) outdid Mark Ramprakash's hundred of the previous day.

Both operated at better than a run-a-ball on the way to 159 in only 21 overs - Denly's tempo was slightly quicker - driving and pulling with the same certainty shown by Ramprakash.

Yet in the end, poor weather - which dogged this match throughout and cost it more than 250 overs - returned in the guise of bad light to wipe out the last 12, with Kent poised on 160 for one to canter to their target.

Surrey's attacking field, in pursuit of the three wickets they needed for their extra point, was an obvious factor.

But that should not detract from the batting of Denly - 10 fours and two sixes - or Key, who hit 13 boundaries.

Both teams banked seven points, Kent moved up to third - nine off the lead - with Surrey 18 adrift at the bottom, just as they were at the start of this round.

With only two matches remaining for each, the reward for dodging the downpours over the last four days was short of what either might have hoped.

After Surrey resumed this morning on 220 for five, Usman Afzaal (67) and Matthew Spriegel took their sixth-wicket stand to 76.

It was a measure of Ramprakash's supremacy that his team did not manage to double the 127 he scored until mid-afternoon a day later, more than 34 overs after he was out.

That ratio was an extreme example of one of the major unsolved issues in a Surrey season which has yet to feature a victory.

"That has been a bit of a problem to us - because over the last couple of years, we've relied too heavily on his runs," admitted cricket manager Alan Butcher.

"It's great that he scores as many runs as he does, especially with Mark Butcher out of the side (injured) - but we haven't had quite as much back-up as I would have liked.

"We really need some of the younger players to step up to the plate."

Usman Afzaal was fortunate to survive when he pulled a Martin Van Jaarsveld off-break to Ryan McLaren at midwicket

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Afzaal, who made up most of the shortfall this time, might have gone when he crunched a cramped pull at Martin van Jaarsveld's off-spin to midwicket - where Ryan McLaren failed to hang on.

Instead he stayed for 171 balls, five fewer than Ramprakash, before a flash outside off-stump at McLaren saw Van Jaarsveld take a very good catch high to his right at second slip.

Afzaal's fellow left-hander Spriegel remained defiantly in his shell for most of his 135 balls.

The stakes were raised in a double-wicket maiden from Amjad Khan, with Alex Tudor and Jimmy Ormond his victims.

But Surrey just got over the line to 300 when Spriegel dismissively drove Khan over extra-cover for four - and McLaren levelled the scores again by bowling Saqlain Mushtaq.

Kent's prospects of adding another point with the bat were not obvious, until Denly and Key showed their intent on a good surface.

By the time Denly nicked one behind off Tudor going for another boundary the job seemed as good as done - until the umpires decided it was too dark.

While Kent were therefore left disappointed, Butcher must come to terms with Surrey's increasingly desperate situation.

"The weather has been diabolical," he said. "But it's our fault we're in this position, so we can't complain too much.

"It is frustrating that you can't get out and try to put things right. But if we hadn't dropped 43 catches in the championship, we wouldn't be where we are.

"It's in our hands - we hope - or out of it, as the case has been so far."