Durham v Kent day two

Kent slipped to a narrow 43-run LV Championship defeat at The Riverside today after losing their last two wickets for only an additional 17 runs at an overcast Chester-le-Street.

Resuming on their perilous overnight total of 116-8, Kent still needed a precious 61 runs for their unlikely win and that in a game that had yielded only 332 runs in its first three completed innings.

But they had the cool head of Martin van Jaarsveld at the crease, unbeaten on 46 and at the other end, James Tredwell, an ally who was more than prepared to get his head down and grind out the runs.

The pair nudged the score through to 133 with van Jaarsveld posting the first half-century of the match along the way, from 54 balls and with seven fours but then disaster struck.

Driving hard at a Mark Davies slower ball van Jaarsveld (53) mistimed the shot and simply spooned the ball to Dale Benkenstein at wide mid-off.

Last man Martin Saggers sidled in with 44 runs still needed but he pushed half forward to his second ball from Callum Thorp and went leg before without scoring leaving Tredwell unbeaten on 10.

So Kent travel home a day early, with only three points to show for their 900-mile round trip and with their championship title aspirations all but over.

To make matters harder for the visitors, the day started with the news that the ECB pitch panel, convened by Philip Sharp after 15 wickets fell on day one, decided to take no action against Durham even though a further 23 wickets fell on day two, the day of their enquiry.

*** Click here to view a live match scorecard on the cricinfo website ***