Yorkshire forced to settle for draw with Kent in County Championship Division One; Paul Walter helps Essex salvage a draw against Northants; bad weather hits games at Bristol and Southampton; Durham openers star in Division Two draw with Sussex
Last Updated: 01/05/22 7:01pm
George Hill of Yorkshire celebrates with his team-mates after dismissing Kent’s George Linde
Yorkshire were denied the opportunity to chase 114 in the final 21 overs by bad light as Kent secured a draw on the final day of their County Championship Division One clash at Headingley.
Umpires Graham Lloyd and Steve O’Shaughnessy halted play before the Yorkshire chase could start, following impressive innings from Kent trio Ben Compton (93), Grant Stewart (90) and Ollie Robinson (85 not out).
Kent looked to be in safe waters at 384-6 in their second innings, a lead of 104 and time running out.
But Yorkshire captain Steve Patterson inspired a burst of four wickets for nine runs in 24 balls. He claimed three of them to finish with 5-54 in 29.3 overs, only for the 38-year-old’s return to go unrewarded as Kent avoided a third defeat in four games and denied their hosts a second win in three to start 2022.
Paul Walter fell agonisingly short of a maiden first-class century but his 93 ensured Essex held on to save both the game and face against Northamptonshire.
Walter anchored Essex’s second innings for five-and-a-half hours before he was undone by a delivery from occasional bowler Saif Zaib (1-14) needing seven runs for his ton and three for a career-best knock.
His good work was carried on, though without the same panache, by Adam Wheater, who used up 174 balls of the day’s allocation while scoring just 33 runs.
In the end, Wheater was still there to accept the handshake of visiting captain Ricardo Vasconcelos on the draw just after 5pm with Essex on 328-9.
Off-spinner Rob Keogh wheeled away relentlessly for 33 overs to claim 4-51 for Northants, supported by seamer Tom Taylor who charged in to return figures of 3-62, but their efforts were in vain.
Poor weather denied Gloucestershire’s Chris Dent the chance to establish a new career-best score, as the final day of the match against Surrey in Bristol was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Unbeaten on 207 overnight, the Bristolian had his sights trained on the personal best score of 268 he made on this ground against Glamorgan in September 2015.
However, no play was possible and Gloucestershire, replying to Surrey’s mammoth 603, were unable to improve upon their overnight first innings score of 443-2.
Rain also thwarted Hampshire and Lancashire’s attempts to play out a potentially thrilling final day at the Ageas Bowl.
The first three days had set up the tantalising prospect of Lancashire needing 342 more runs and Hampshire requiring 10 wickets.
But light rain swept over the ground from around 10:30am, throughout the morning and afternoon and umpires Rob White and Nick Cook finally confirmed the draw, from which both sides claimed 12 points, at 5pm to the backdrop of both sets of players kicking footballs around.
Opening batters Sean Dickson and Alex Lees compiled the fourth highest partnership in Durham’s history as their match against Sussex at Hove predictably petered out to a draw.
They put on 313 for the first wicket with Dickson making 186 – his highest score for Durham – and Lees 105 before both fell in the same over from leg-spinner Mason Crane.
By then they had knocked off all but two runs of their first-innings deficit of 315 and when the players shook hands at 4.50pm Durham were 364-3 and leading by 49.
Sussex claimed 15 points from the draw, five more than their opponents.