Kent v Somerset

Visitors Somerset hold a valuable 92-run lead going into the third day of the Festival Week LV Championship clash with Kent at Tunbridge Wells.

The West Country County went in at stumps on 157 for two having bowled out Kent for 273 earlier in the day.

Opener Neil Edwards was Somerset’s first man to go for 16, well held by James Tredwell in the gully after a vicious cut shot off the bowling of Ryan McLaren.

Then off-spinner Tredwell lifted home spirits further just before the close when he had Justin Langer stumped by Geraint Jones for 42.

Deceived in the flight, the Aussie left-hander missed an attempted rush drive allowing Jones a sharp chance that the Kent keeper accepted with aplomb.

But Marcus Trescothick, looking very comfortable on 71, and night watchman Steffan Jones made it through without further alarm to send Somerset into day three in decent shape.

Earlier in the day Kent spurned a strong position in the game by losing their last six wickets for 98 runs.

At 175 for four they looked set for a sizeable first innings lead but, having lost three wickets in the morning session, Kent went on to lose four more after the break as Somerset restricted them to a first innings lead of 65 runs.

Only Martin van Jaarsveld (95) posted a half-century as the swinging ball, coupled with occasional variable bounce, led to the loss of 21 wickets in five sessions.

The South African looked set for another hundred until he drove a Peter Trego slower ball straight into the hands of Zander de Bruyn at extra cover to bring an end to his painstaking 199-ball stay.

The innings slid away thereafter as Geraint Jones (18) fell leg before to a shooter, then Yasir Arafat (3) and Ryan McLaren (12) clipped catches to mid-on and gully respectively.

Trego finished with an excellent 4-52 against his old side while left-armer Charl Willoughby took 3-91.

Described by the late press box doyen E W Swanton as “Glorious in its rhododendral splendour”, the Nevill was indeed a glorious place to be as van Jaarsveld helped Kent post two batting bonus points.

His stoic half-century came from 130 balls after taking 70 minutes to crawl through the 40s.

The hosts had lost three wickets in the opening two-hour session, the first of them night watchman Martin Saggers (8) who played inside the line of a Trego leg-cutter to lose his off stump.

Van Jaarsveld then played second fiddle to Darren Stevens in a fifth-wicket stand of 54 in nine overs to which the South African contributed only seven.

Stevens clattered nine fours in his 43-minute and 44-ball stay and was only four short of his 50 when he went leg before to Steffan Jones when shuffling across his stumps.

Though Justin Kemp hit the first six of the Kent innings on his way to scoring 11, he too went leg before, this time to Ben Phillips when attempting to work a straight ball to the leg side.