Kent v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day Four

AN unbeaten century from Anthony McGrath and 92 from Matthew Wood saved the day for Yorkshire in a dreary draw against Kent at Canterbury on Saturday.

McGrath reached 123 off 252 balls with 14 boundaries when Yorkshire declared on 263 for two to end the match.

The ten points Yorkshire got were sufficient to keep them out of the two relegation places with Nottinghamshire and Middlesex, both losing.

They each have a game in hand over Yorkshire, however, who must sharpen up their act soon if they are to move away from the danger zone.

Kent were the guilty party in making the contest dull, never showing the slightest inclination to take control when they were in a position to dictate events during their innings.

They seemed content to take the safe route to a draw and in the end finished up with only one point more than Yorkshire who still await their first win of the season.

Yorkshire set out on the final day on two without loss, needing a further 149 to avoid the innings defeat, and there was an early setback when Joe Sayers cut Justin Kemp to Robert Key at backward point.

Like Wood, Sayers was in desperate need of a big score and in six innings to date he has mustered only 43. On a wearing pitch Kent could have won easily if they had a couple of good spinners but neither left-armer, Robert Ferley, nor Martin van Jaarsveld, were able to stop the progress of Wood and McGrath who batted throughout the afternoon session.

They managed during that time to wipe out the arrears and had put on 177 together in 71 overs when Wood swivelled round at Darren Stevens, who had changed from medium pace to off-spin, and was bowled by a delivery which did not get up.

He had faced 256 balls and struck seven fours but a rash stroke had cost him his first century since August, 2004.

There was to be no denying, McGrath, who calmly moved to his century off 226 balls with 11 fours.

It was his 18th for Yorkshire and came exactly ten years after his first which was also on the St Lawrence ground.

Scorecard

Kent v Yorkshire at Canterbury

Overnight: Kent 533 (J M Kemp 124 no, M van
Jaarsveld 82, R W T Key 81, D P Fulton 75, M J
Walker 60; R K J Dawson 4-151). Yorkshire 382
(D S Lehmann 193, C White 79; D I Stevens 4-
36, S J Cook 4-67) and 2-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings
M J Wood b Stevens 92
J J Sayers c Key b Kemp 5
A McGrath not out 123
M J Lumb not out 24
Extras (b9 lb3 w5 nb2 pens 0) 19
Total 2 wkts dec (96 overs) 263
Fall: 1-21 2-198
Did Not Bat: D S Lehmann, C White, T T
Bresnan, R K J Dawson, J N Gillespie, G J Kruis.
Total Bonus Pts: Kent 7 Yorkshire 6
Bowling: Joseph 7-0-23-0. Cook 9-1-21-0.
Kemp 2-0-7-1. Ferley 42-10-94-0. Stevens 14-3-
33-1. van Jaarsveld 19-2-60-0. Walker 3-0-13-0.

Kent (11pts) drew with Yorkshire (10pts)