Bears pile more pain on Kent at bottom of league
Kent’s lurch towards Vitality Championship relegation continued as they were bowled out for 156 by Warwickshire on the opening day of their Division One relegation battle at Edgbaston.
Having collected just nine batting points from ten games, Kent were skittled in just 39.5 overs by the seamers before the home side eased past them to reach 207 for three at the close.
Michael Booth (three for 13), Olly Hannon-Dalby (three for 31) and Chris Rushworth (three for 43) dismantled a Kent batting order in which only Ben Compton (70, 103 balls) and Joey Evison (28, 44) reached double figures. If Compton had not been badly dropped on one, Kent’s implosion would have been complete.
Warwickshire completed their excellent day by moving 51 ahead with seven wickets intact, Will Rhodes compiling a measured unbeaten 82 (134 balls) to build a perfect platform for a belated first championship win of the season.
Warwickshire bowler Olly Hannon-Dalby said: “We are really happy to have bowled Kent out for 150-ish. A lot has been made about the Kookaburra ball but there is actually quite a lot of swing early on with the Kookaburra and we saw that this morning. The swing tends to dissipate quite quickly with the Kookaburra, a bit like with the white ball, so it was nice that it swung early on and we managed to nick a few out.
“Then Michael Booth took three quick wickets. He is a very promising young bowler who bowls with great pace and has a good work ethic so for him to get a career-best and sort of turn the game was great.
“Then our batters did a really good job. Yatesy and Davo gave us a great start and then Rhodesy batted brilliantly and really patiently. Hopefully we can pile on the runs tomorrow and get a nice big lead.”
