Kent seal County Championship promotion with eight-wicket win over Gloucestershire

Kent celebrate promotion with emphatic win at Canterbury

Kent sealed promotion to Division One of the County Championship with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Gloucestershire at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, on day three of their Division Two fixture.

Kent players celebrate County Championship promotion at Canterbury

The victory, coupled with results elsewhere, confirmed Kent's place in the top tier alongside second-tier champions Durham. By the time Kent began their chase, they already knew promotion was secured after learning their only rivals Northamptonshire had lost to Middlesex at Lord's — prompting a wave of applause around the ground.

Scorecard

Gloucestershire 229 (Bracey 86; Milnes 4-55) & 241 (Dhariwal 66; Milnes 5-33)
Kent 353 (Compton 126) & 120-2 (Northeast 49*, Crawley 44)
Result: Kent (22 pts) beat Gloucestershire (3 pts) by eight wickets

Milnes wrecks Gloucestershire second innings

Kent began day three knowing victory would guarantee second place, but Gloucestershire's Tom Boorman was dropped in the first over when he edged Khaled Ahmed and keeper Chris Benjamin left it for first slip Zak Crawley, who seemed surprised and missed the chance. Both overnight batters then went in the space of seven balls — Miles Hammond edged Ahmed to Tawanda Muyeye on 42, before Boorman nicked Matt Milnes behind.

Kamran Dhariwal and Daaryoush Ahmed batted Gloucestershire into the lead, with the latter perhaps unlucky to be lbw for 34 off what looked like an inside edge. But there was no arguing James Bracey's dismissal: batting with a runner, he spooned Milnes to Keith Dudgeon at mid-on, leaving the visitors 150-6 at lunch.

Sai Kishore became Milnes' fifth victim when he was caught by Muyeye at first slip, and the bowler then took his 27th championship catch of the season when Che Simmons edged Dudgeon. With Gloucestershire eight down, news filtered through that Northamptonshire had lost to Middlesex and any tension melted away — though Matt Taylor made a useful 34 to give the visitors something to defend. Dhariwal finally fell to Muyeye, swishing him to Northeast at mid-off, and the innings ended when Taylor drove Ekansh Singh to skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond, setting a target of 118.

Northeast and Crawley cruise home

Zak Crawley cracked the first delivery of the chase, from JT Langridge, for four, but two balls later he was dropped by Ollie Price at second slip. Langridge did have Ben Compton lbw for four, and Crawley's livewire innings ended when he reverse-swept Kishore for four before slog-sweeping the next ball vertically, walking off before Hammond had even taken the catch.

With the target down to 12, Sam Northeast hit Price for six over cow corner, then struck the next two balls for four to crown promotion and seal Kent's eighth win of the season.

'A remarkable turnaround' — reaction

Kent head coach Adam Hollioake said: "It feels good and I feel like we've been working towards it for a while so I've been quietly confident for a while but I think it's just a nice relief to have it actually done.

"I wasn't confident at all last year at all and even after three games this year we were questioning ourselves as a coach and I think all the players were questioning themselves as well so it's been a pretty remarkable turnaround and credit to all the players for the way they've responded.

"Their ability this year to go out and execute the plans and pick themselves up, after what was a really tough start to the season, has been the main reason for our turnaround and our success."

Gloucestershire's Mark Alleyne added: "There would have been nothing worse than it being a dead rubber, so to speak, so I think the fact that Kent were pushing for promotion offered a level of stimulus that is good for us. We know to win games, you've got to be prepared to play and perform under a bit more pressure, so it's exactly what we wanted and needed.

"It was also typical of the season, with some good moments amongst some not so good ones. This game is littered with mistakes — it's really challenging, as you can see, both technically and physically and mentally."

Kent's promotion came as Middlesex beat Northamptonshire at Lord's, while in a separate title race Warwickshire beat Leicestershire to secure a ninth County Championship crown. The ECB Reporters' Network was supported by Rothesay.