Middlesex: 333 and 11 for 1; Kent: 308

MATTHEW WALKER’S first Lord’s championship century cemented a faltering Kent reply and ensured the visitors edged within 25 runs of the Middlesex first innings.

On a fascinating second day of cut-and-thrust cricket in St John’s Wood, Walker batted for just over four hours to post the 18th hundred of his Kent career and his first since last July at Guildford.

The diminutive left-hander had looked hopelessly out of touch in the early stages of his innings, but battled through to find form and play some sublime back-foot forcing shots in what would become his second century against Middlesex.

At one point Kent, who lost six wickets in the mid-session, looked set to concede a three-figure deficit as the Middlesex seam attack extracted additional bounce from this Lord’s pitch – but they did not account for Walker’s determined ton.

Responding to the Middlesex first innings of 333, Kent made the worst possible start by losing skipper Rob Key to the 13th ball of the day, leg before when half forward to a Chris Silverwood off-cutter.

David Fulton and Martin van Jaarsveld joined forces to add 60 for the second wicket, but both had slices of luck.

Fulton went perilously close to playing on and van Jaarsveld had reached 15 when Ben Hutton dropped him at second slip off the bowling of Chris Wright.

The partnership finally ended when Fulton, having just clattered his fifth four off Wright, drove off balance at the next delivery to lift the ball into the hands of Jamie Dalrymple at cover point for Kent to lunch on 117 for two.

Having reached his second half-century of the summer from 71 balls van Jaarsveld had another let off when Hutton dropped him again five balls after the interval off the left-arm seamers of Mohammad Ali.

But van Jaarsveld’s luck soon ran out when, with his score on 63, his near three-hour stay ended when he pulled a Silverwood long-hop into the hands of Ed Smith positioned at deep mid-wicket near the Grandstand boundary.

The visitors would lose a further five wickets in the next 26 overs as the sprightly Middlesex attack sensed their chance.

Hutton permed his seamers well from one end and kept left-arm spinner Dalrymple in action for an unchanged spell of 17 overs to set Kent on the slide.

Darren Stevens followed a Johann Louw leg-cutter to edge to the keeper, and then Justin Kemp prodded at Dalrymple’s fifth delivery of his marathon stint to edge to slip.

Walker posted his 50 from 122 balls after 164 minutes but the collapse continued when Niall O’Brien, cutting too close to his body, chopped onto his stumps against the lively Ali.

An injudicious late cut by Min Patel ended up in the hands of slip after three attempts by Hutton and Simon Cook edged an airy drive to Owais Shah as former Yorkshire paceman Silverwood moved toward figures of three for 55.

But it was Walker who blossomed thereafter, reaching his century with a cracking four off Louw, the 14th boundary of his innings that helped contribute a vital 45 for the ninth wicket in tandem with Amjad Khan.

With the side four short of their third batting bonus point Khan played on to become Dalrymple’s third victim, but Walker bludgeoned past the non-striker’s stumps to post the 300 before slicing another attempted straight drive high to point eight runs later.

There was still time and just enough light left in the day for Khan to have his former club-mate Smith superbly held at second slip by van Jaarsveld – the fifth time he has dismissed Smith since he left Kent in 2004.

Bad light ended play soon after with the game intriguingly poised going into its third day of four.

SCORECARD

Middlesex first innings:

E T Smith c van Jaarsveld b Joseph 36
B L Hutton c Joseph b Kemp 47
O A Shah c van Jaarsveld b Khan 12
E C Joyce c Kemp b Joseph 130
J W M Dalrymple c O’Brien b Cook 17
N R D Compton c O’Brien b Kemp 13
B J M Scott b Kemp12
J Louw c O’Brien b Stevens 1
C J C Wright c van Jaarsveld 10
C E W Silverwood c Stevens b Joseph 2
Mohammad Ali not out 19

Extras 34

Total: 333 all out after 101.1 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-67, 2-91, 3-154, 4-191, 5-232, 6-255, 7-268, 8-289, 9-295.

Bowling: Khan 23-4-82-1, Cook 18-4-48-1, Joseph 22.1-2-62-4, Kemp 20-3-72-3, Patel 12-1-42-0, Stevens 6-0-14-1.

Kent first innings:

R W T Key lbw b Silverwood 4
D P Fulton c Dalrymple b Wright 30
M van Jaarsveld c Smith b Silverwood 63
M J Walker c Joyce b Ali 123
D I Stevens c Scott b Louw 15
J M Kemp c Hutton b Dalrymple 13
M M Patel c Hutton b Dalrymple 2
S J Cook c Shah b Silverwood 6
A Khan b Dalrymple 11
R H Joseph not out 0

Extras 31

Total: 308 all out after 85.5 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-9, 2-69, 3-156, 4-162, 5-184, 6-211, 7-224, 8-251, 9-296

Bowling: Silverwood 17-3-55-3, Louw 20-5-69-1, Wright 15-3-64-1, Ali 13.5-2-71-2, Hutton 3-2-6-0, Dalrymple 17-6-33-3.

Middlesex second innings:

E T Smith c van Jaarsveld b Khan 2
B L Hutton not out 5
O A Shah not out 0

Extras 4

Total: 11 for one after nine overs.

Fall of wicket: 1-11.

Bowling: Joseph 5-2-6-0, Khan 4-2-5-1

Bonus points: Middlesex 6pts Kent 6pts.

* MARK PENNELL'S DAY THREE REPORT WILL APPEAR HERE AT THE CLOSE OF PLAY.