Durham Dynamos won by eight wickets

KENT were left questioning their decision to rest three Test players and bat first at the notorious Riverside ground after slumping to a dismal eight-wicket defeat to promotion chasing Durham Dynamos.

With one eye clearly on their championship aspirations Spitfires boarded their team bus for the 400-mile trek north without in-form overseas stars Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp, as well as England batsman Rob Key.

On arrival one-day skipper Matt Walker, possibly swayed by a white pitch and a baking-hot day, made matters worse by opting to bat first at the Chester-le-Street Test venue despite the recent limited-over records here.

Had Walker carried out some pre-trip homework he might have spotted that only last month Warwickshire slumped to 70 for nine here, Derbyshire were dismissed for 82 and Leicestershire were left complaining about the wicket after being rolled over for 113 in a day-night game.

Despite all evidence for doing the contrary, Walker chose to bat and soon became one of Kent’s early victims as they slid to 52 for six inside the first 22 of their 45-over allocation.

As a result Dynamos quick bowlers Brad Williams, Neil Killeen and Liam Plunkett all swung the new, white ball and enjoyed lateral seam movement aplenty to trouble the entire Kent order.

Makeshift opener James Tredwell shouldered arms to one from Williams that swung into the left-hander to peg back his off stump, then young Joe Denly missed a defensive push to be skittled through the gate as both openers went without scoring.

In the third over Darren Stevens became the third to go without troubling the scorers when he, in attempting to work to leg-side, found a leading edge to scoop a catch to Dale Benkenstein diving forward at mid-on.

Martin van Jaarsveld and Walker moved the score on to 27 before Walker, on 13, followed a leg-cutter in Plunkett’s first over from the Finchale End to edge one low to slip.

Van Jaarsveld faced 56 balls in reaching 25 and seemed the most secure of the top-order until Michael Carberry promptly ran him out.

Not heeding the 'never run off a miss-field' rule, Carberry saw Gary Pratt, the man who ran out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge, tumble and partially stop van Jaarsveld’s drive to backward point.

He called for the single leaving the South African high and dry as Pratt threw to the non-striker’s end.

Kent re-grouped and Carberry partially made amends when he and Matt Dennington doubled the score with a seventh wicket stand worth 74 in 18 overs.

Dropped at backward point when on nought and 15 by Paul Collingwood and Pratt respectively, Carberry eventually found some form to hit 63 from 87 balls with 10 fours out of the 14 in Kent’s entire innings.

The highlight came with four successive fours for Carberry in one Collingwood over, but it was meagre fare for the Kent supporters who made the six-hour trip north.

The partnership ended when Dennington (17), in aiming to clip Killeen over mid-wicket, missed the ball and lost his off stump.

The dismissal sparked another collapse as Kent lost their last four wickets for 14 runs.

Killeen finished with three for 31, diminutive off-spinner Gareth Breese ran through the tail to bag three for 30 but Williams and Plunkett were the pick of the Durham attack with two for 18 and one for 15 respectively.

Kent eventually succumbed for 140, their worst of a disappointing campaign and their lowest ever total against Durham.

Scenting possible promotion, an emphatic victory and the double over Kent, Dynamos sprinted toward victory courtesy of a stunning opening stand between Aussie left-hander Jimmy Maher, Durham’s locum for Michael Hussey, and Gavin Hamilton.

Maher scored his half-century for the club at a run-a-ball with 10 fours against an utterly dispirited Kent attack and a visiting side who remained desperately quiet during their brief stint in the field.

Former Yorkshire all-rounder Hamilton, who runs out of contract this month and could be playing for his county future, played and missed at Martin Saggers numerous times but rode his luck to score 43.

Maher finally went for 70 to an outrageous reverse pull against Tredwell that picked out the fielder at cover, but by then the hosts only needed 18 for victory.

Nine runs later Hamilton skied one to give Tredwell his second wicket, but Gordon Muchall and his acting skipper Collingwood duly saw Durham home with 17 and a half overs to spare.

Saggers was the only Spitfires bowler to do himself any justice yet even the former England seamer failed to get a wicket.

As for the rest? Well, to be frank, Kent are clearly no nearer finding their winning formula or their best one-day side than they were at the start of this season.

Durham Dynamos won by eight wickets