Nottinghamshire v Kent

Kent’s four-day clash with Nottinghamshire hangs in the balance going into its final day as the visitors need a further 115 for victory with six, second innings wickets still intact.

Having been set 244 to win in four sessions, Kent went in at the close on 129-4 with Martin van Jaarsveld on 45 not out, while his fellow South African Justin Kemp took only a single.

In another intriguing game that has swung back and forth, Nottinghamshire took four wickets in the last session, three of them by England prospect Stuart Broad.

After a nervy opening stand of 29, James Tredwell, who looked ill at ease against the swinging ball, fell to Broad’s third ball of the innings. Half forward in defence he missed one that came back in to go leg-before.

Joe Denly looked a little more convincing and rattled to 35 in no time, but he then dallied way outside off stump to edge to Chris Read in Broad’s next over.

Looking unhappy with his game and his lot, Matt Walker tried to hit his way back into some semblance of form but paid the ultimate penalty for his ambition. Hooking at a bouncer, he gloved a catch to Read and walked off cursing himself.

Acting captain Martin van Jaarsveld was the steadying influence thereafter, teaming up with Darren Stevens to add 54 in 10 overs before Stevens (20) gave up his own wicket. Drawn into following a Mark Ealham out-swinger he nicked to second slip and, like Walker, trudged off ruing the shot.

Kemp and van Jaarsveld made it through to stumps without further alarm, and much will rest on their shoulders come Saturday morning if Kent are to complete their first win of the 2008 championship campaign.

As Kent’s did before them, Nottinghamshire’s tail-enders out-performed the top-order batters and it was a bright and breezy 88 from Read coupled with a stubborn 39 from ex-St Lawrence favourite Mark Ealham that made Kent’s task of winning this game a much tougher one.

Ryan McLaren finished with Kent career-best figures of 6-75 while Geraint Jones took his tally of catches to nine in the game, his best and making him only the seventh Kent keeper to do so.

Kent were made to work much harder for their wickets in the second session as Read and Broad added 68 in 20 overs before Broad edged to Justin Kemp at slip off Tredwell.

Read went onto plunder 10 fours and a brace of sixes before snicking his attempted drive off McLaren to the diving Jones.

Ealham went soon after, edging an involuntary push against Robbie Joseph and McLaren polished off the innings by having Ryan Sidebottom caught at second slip.

Under cloudy skies Kent’s bowlers had restricted the home batsmen to 69 runs in the opening session while taking four crucial scalps.

With Martin Saggers at the Pavilion End and McLaren from the Radcliffe Road End, the pair took full advantage of cloud cover to swing the ball about, but also bowled incredibly tight lines and lengths.

Nottinghamshire scored nine runs in the first 30 minutes and 22 in an hour during which time McLaren took the first three wickets to fall; all caught behind by keeper Jones and all in consecutive overs.

Tied down and clearly wanting to get on with run-scoring, Adam Voges (28) was drawn into chasing an away-swinger, Samit Patel (1) tried but failed to leave a leg-cutter alone, then Wood (58) got the best ball of all, a late out-swinger that brushed the edge of the bat when in back-foot defence.

McLaren had taken 3-9 in the space of 18 balls and took his sweater for a deserved rest after a morning stint of 8-3-12-3.

Kent’s domination continued when Bilal Shafayat (8) dragged a short ball from Joseph onto his own middle stump when attempting a loose back-foot force and at 134-6 Nottinghamshire’s lead was only 98.

The visitors should have taken their fifth wicket of the morning with the score on 147 when Broad, on nought, attempted to pull a Yasir Arafat bouncer, the ball ballooned to mid-on where Denly inexplicably dropped a simple chance.