Ben Slater’s 160 Boosts Nottinghamshire’s Survival Hopes as Kent Struggles
Nottinghamshire dominated the first day of the Vitality County Championship Division One match against Kent, recording an impressive score of 393 for 6 at stumps in Canterbury. Kent was on the verge of being demoted, but Nottinghamshire’s relegation anxieties were greatly allayed by Ben Slater’s outstanding 160.
After dominating the opening day against Kent at Canterbury, Nottinghamshire made a significant advance towards safety in Division One of the Vitality County Championship by reaching 393 for 6 at stumps.
Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed, the openers, demoralized the lower-tier team in the division with a 196-run partnership for the first wicket. Slater scored 160 runs off 217 balls, including 22 fours, while Hameed managed a relatively meek 56 from 142.
After that, Jack Haynes punished Nottinghamshire even more with 62, and the team that started the day in seventh place benefited from a total of 37 extras, 30 of which came from no-balls.
For Kent supporters, games at the Spitfire Ground have followed a predictable pattern this season: hope slowly eroding in the first innings, despair setting in during the second; valiant but ultimately fruitless resistance in the third, followed by defeat in the fourth, if it goes that far.
Members had a little amount of hope heading into this “48-pointer” after last week’s trend-bucking tie with Hampshire, but even that had evaporated after the first 30 minutes. Kent choose to bowl in a match that was crucial to both teams’ hopes of winning the division, only for Notts to quickly reach 50 runs off of just 53 balls.
Akeem Jordan was given his home debut by Kent, but after going for 36 in his opening three overs, Nathan Gilchrist took his place at Pavilion End.
Slater hit George Garrett for a fifty after Jordan misfielded, but Jack Leaning dropped him at second slip when he was on 41. Lunch was 134 for 0, and things were only little less lopsided in the afternoon. When Joey Evison bowled the latter, their stand came to an end. Slater had hit Gilchrist over point for four to reach three figures, while Hameed had taken Jordan through third man to achieve his fifty.
Replays revealed that Freddie McCann’s eighteen-run edge over Gilchrist to Leaning may not have carried. Joe Clarke then went for eighteen when he pushed George Garrett to Gilchrist at deep fine leg, leaving Notts on 271 for 3 at tea.
Tawanda Muyeye caught Slater at first slip for Leaning, but Haynes and Lyndon James rallied with a partnership of sixty runs, before Muyeye caught Haynes off a bottom edge off Gilchrist.
After a protracted discussion between the umpires, James was subsequently dismissed by Jordan for 34 in the last over, caught by Muyeye, allowing Luke Fletcher and Dane Schadendorf to bat through to stumps on 10 and 8, respectively.
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