Daniel Bell-Drummond says time stood still as he teetered on the brink of his maiden Championship hundred.

The 20-year-old registered his maiden First Class century against Loughborough MCCU in April, just days after a century in a warm-up match with Essex. However, despite adding two Championship half-centuries once the season began, Bell-Drummond departed for 92 in Kent’s previous home Championship game against Essex.

The opener admitted: “It was nice to get over the line. I’ve been close a couple of times but it was great to finally get there, especially in the game situation. I was happy about it.

“You’ve always got to try and get the first one out of the way and hopefully I can kick-on now and it’s the first of many.”

Bell-Drummond admitted having the ‘nervous nineties’ and said: “I’ve never done it before and I was in the 90s for a while and on 95 for what felt like an hour but it was great to finally get there.

“I did try and refocus and start again but I got out pretty soon after and it wasn’t to be.”
He added: “The pitch was tough work, especially the first day. I tried to guts it out, battle and not give my wicket away. Luckily it paid off and I didn’t get a ball with my name on it until I was past 100 – I can’t complain.

“In the game scenario it went a long way towards us winning the game but the guys down the lower end who took us from 240-8 up to 330-mark did well.”

Bell-Drummond also revealed the Kent squad have not yet given up on the fight for promotion to the top flight of Championship cricket, adding: “You’ve got to think ahead and positively.

“We’re pretty confident going up to Leicester in our next game. We’ve got to look up the table and try to catch the teams in front of us.

“We’ve always been trying to get promoted, that’s our goal. We haven’t got off to the start we’d have wanted. We want to win every game and if we win do, we know we’ll be near the top.”