Yorkshire v Kent

KENT'S Ryan McLaren took two wickets in the space of four balls just before noon, but that just about summed up the excitement of the fourth day of their LV Championship match in Scarborough that petered out into a dour draw.

The ponderous heavy roller at the North Marine Road ground took any semblance of life out of the pitch and the game trundled to an inevitable draw at a similar pace before the players shook hands on the draw at 5.05pm with Kent on 17 without loss in their second innings, a match deficit of 47 runs.

The visitors had ended their marathon 145-over stint in the field shortly before 4.30pm, by which time Neil Dexter was keeping wicket, they had used 10 players to bowl and Yorkshire, in replying to Kent's 486 all out, had moved on from their overnight score of 208 for two to reach 550 for nine declared - a first innings lead of 64.

It was the second new ball, taken just before noon and after 80 overs, which helped McLaren to nip out two Tykes' batters in an over with the home score on 262.

Century-maker Anthony McGrath was first to go for an excellent 120 from 218 balls, playing back in defence to the third ball with the new 'cherry' he edged to Geraint Jones to end a stand worth 112 in 18 overs with Younis Khan.

Three balls later left-hander Jacques Rudolph followed one going across his body and edged low to James Tredwell at first slip to go for nought.

With Andrew Hall off the field and out of the game with a stomach strain, Kent were further hampered when Simon Cook, who started the day with a no ball before conceding successive boundaries to Khan, went off for a couple of overs to strap up his knees having forgotten to do so before the start.

On the cusp of lunch Khan reached his 27th first-class hundred with a single off Joe Denly's leg-spin and, in reaching three figures from 131 balls, also ensured Yorkshire had saved the follow-on.

Kent enjoyed another double breakthrough from McLaren after lunch that at least assured a second bowling bonus point. Gerard Brophy (43) sliced an attempted drive to Martin van Jaarsveld in the gully then, in McLaren's next over, van Jaarsveld moved to second slip to snaffle an edged drive that sent Adil Rashid packing for a duck.

With the ball softened and Kent's attack clearly tiring, Tim Bresnan cashed in with a fluent 58 from 87 balls for his part in a seventh-wicket stand of 123 in 26 overs with Khan before clattering a short ball from Dexter to point, then Gough slapped the last ball before tea to mid-off to give van Jaarsveld his second first-class wicket for Kent.

Mark Lawson (5) nicked to slip soon after to give van Jaarsveld career-best county figures of two for 37, but as 130 overs had already elapsed Kent were unable to pick up the last of their bonus points.

Khan filled his boots against the part-time bowlers to post his double century from 245 balls and was unbeaten on 217, having just lost the ball with a six off van Jaarsveld, when Gough declared the innings.

McLaren used the new ball with good effect to pick up four for 89, but otherwise the Kent seamers struggled to extract any assistance from a pretty lifeless wicket.

Kent return to action in Derby on Sunday for their second NatWest Pro40 tie of the Division 2 campaign.

Matthew Walker will travel up to supplement the injury-hit squad, while Andrew Hall will need a late fitness test on a stomach strain. Yasir Arafat will miss out, however, with a side problem.

The match, which has been moved to the Old Racecourse Ground, is set for a 1.45pm start.

Scorecard

Kent first innings

R W T Key c Brophy b Bresnan 21
J L Denly b Rashid 114
M van Jaarsveld c Brophy b Bresnan 5
J C Tredwell lbw b Gough 44
D I Stevens lbw Rashid 87
N J Dexter c Brophy b Bresnan 55
G O Jones c Brophy b Rashid 43
A J Hall c Rudolph b Bresnan 18
M McLaren c Brophy b Rashid 17
S J Cook not out 50
M J Saggers c Bresnan b Rashid 11
Extras21

Total 486 all out after 125.3 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-56, 2-66, 3-149, 4-263, 5-294, 6-352, 7-386, 8-419, 9-426.

Bowling: Gough 28-7-81-1, Gillespie 20-5-55-0, Rashid 23.3-1-112-5, Bresnan 35-7-140-4, McGrath 7-3-10-0, Lawson 7-0-54-0, Khan 4-0-21-0.

Yorkshire first innings

C White c Jones b Cook 49
J J Sayers c Jones b Hall 4
A McGrath c Jones b McLaren 120
Younis Khan not out 217
J A Rudolph c Tredwell b McLaren 0
G L Brophy c van Jaarsveld b McLaren 43
A Rashid c van Jaarsveld b McLaren 0
T T Bresnan c Stevens b Dexter 58
D Gough c Dexter b van Jaarsveld 17
M A K Lawson c Key b van Jaarsveld 5
J N Gillespie not out 5
Extras 32

Total 550 for nine declared after 144.3 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-17, 2-150, 3-262, 4-262, 5-354, 6-356, 7-479, 8-499, 9-513.

Bowling: McLaren 28-7-89-4, Saggers 29-7-83-0, Hall 7-3-9-1, Cook 18-2-76-1, Stevens 14-2-49-0, Tredwell 27-5-96-0, Dexter 4-0-35-1, Denly 6-0-35-0, Key 6-0-27-0, van Jaarsveld 5.5-0-37-2.

Kent second innings

R W T Key not out 6
J L Denly not out 11
Extras 0

Total 17 without loss after 10 overs

Bowling: Gough 3-2-1-0, Rashid 5-3-5-0, Lawson 2-0-11-0.

Match Drawn; Bonus points: Yorkshire 12pts, Kent 11pts.