Tuesday 7 July 2015 19:42, UK
Kent claimed their second LV= County Championship Division Two victory of the season by beating Leicestershire by eight wickets at Grace Road.
The visitors quickly captured the one remaining Leicestershire wicket they needed at the start of the third day and then chased down 73 for the loss of two batsmen to wrap up the win just after lunch and move off the bottom of the table, where they are replaced by the Foxes.
Despite heavy overnight rain, play resumed on time with Leicestershire on 110-9, a lead of just 59.
Ben Raine (41 not out) and Charlie Shreck took the score on to 123 before Shreck was bowled by Matt Coles (4-43), the seamer's fourth wicket of the innings to go with the six he took in Leicestershire's first innings, giving him career-best match figures of 10-94.
The Kent batsmen adopted an aggressive approach in reply on a difficult pitch and, while it paid off for Joe Denly, it did cause the demise of Daniel Bell-Drummond.
The opener was caught by Angus Robson at first slip off the bowling of Raine for five and Rob Key followed when he lofted Raine (2-34) straight to Ned Eckersley at mid-on for four.
But Denly prospered, hitting 37 off 48 balls, and he and skipper Sam Northeast (28 not out) saw Kent home.
Rain once again interrupted play at Old Trafford in the game between Lancashire and Essex.
Just 25.4 overs were bowled on the opening day on Monday and only a further 44.2 overs were sent down on the second day as Lancashire progressed slowly to 257-5 from 96-4 overnight.
Alex Davies and skipper Steven Croft took their fifth-wicket partnership to 79 runs before the former was trapped lbw by Ravi Bopara (1-31) for 38 from 59 balls.
Croft stood firm at the other end, though, and he was unbeaten on 85 from 192 deliveries at the close after being given good support by James Faulkner (37no) in a sixth-wicket stand which is worth 86 runs so far.
It was also day two of the match between Derbyshire and Glamorgan at Queen’s Park in Chesterfield, with the visitors ending the day in a decent position.
Glamorgan resumed on 167-3 and took their score to 410-9 before declaring, with Derbyshire then reaching 122-2 at stumps.
Colin Ingram resumed on 73 for the visitors but he added only another 16 runs before top-edging a delivery from England hopeful Mark Footitt - who was being watched by national selector James Whitaker for the second day running - to Tony Palladino at third man.
A lengthy rain delay then followed before lunch but Glamorgan batted positively after the resumption with Craig Meschede reaching 70 before also falling to Footitt (4-98).
That brought Graham Wagg and David Lloyd together and the pair added 87 before Wagg was bowled by Tom Taylor (2-63).
Mark Wallace opted to bat despite dislocating his thumb on Monday and he made 21 before becoming Footitt’s fourth victim, while Lloyd was eventually dismissed by Alex Hughes (1-71) for 55.
Hamish Rutherford and Billy Godleman gave Derbyshire a good start with an opening stand of 77 but the former was run out by Ruaidhri Smith to check their charge.
Smith then trapped Chesney Hughes lbw for three, but skipper Wayne Madsen (19no), who was dropped on 17, and Godleman (49no) were able to see the hosts through to the close, although they are still 288 runs adrift.
