First day of four: Lancs (90-3) trail Kent (186) by 96 runs
IN the mist that hung over the St Lawrence Ground all morning, Lancashire's exponents of swing overwhelmed Kent's wobbly top order and but for a defiant 73 by Mark Ealham and his partnership of 64 with Ben Phillips, Kent would have been in dire straits. Their spinners later rallied them, taking three wickets in the space of 28 runs.
Within an hour of the start, Steve Marsh must have wished that he had lost the toss. The look of the pitch gave him no reason to do otherwise than bat first, but the heavy atmosphere gave ample assistance not only to Wasim Akram and Peter Martin, but also to Andrew Flintoff and Ian Austin.
Robert Key, the England Under-19 opening batsman, edged Martin to third slip. Trevor Ward was claimed by Wasim with a yorker and Carl Hooper, driving at Martin, holed out to extra cover.
David Fulton hung on for 85 minutes without ever locating the middle of the bat. He and Alan Wells, calmly assured, added 33 before Lancashire again tightened their grip. Flintoff induced a snick from Fulton and Wells was defeated by Austin's late swing. Matthew Fleming was lured into a fatal hook and Kent, with 20 minutes to go to lunch, were 73 for six.
Wasim threatened before and after the break but was denied by a brave Ealham, who never looked in trouble and punished the bad ball with drives and cuts to hit 10 fours besides a pulled six.
Kent's opening attack did not pose the same threat, but allowed no liberties and it was not until the spinners came on that runs began to flow. Michael Atherton, unbeaten on 42, looked relaxed and fluent in his 125 minutes at the crease.
Day 2: Watchful century will lift Atherton
By D J Rutnagur at Canterbury
Second day of four: Lancs (419-8) lead Kent (186) by 233 runs
MICHAEL Atherton's long wait for his 45th century - 21 innings and eight months since his last - was ended at a sun-drenched St Lawrence yesterday.
Kent's attack did not have the edge to test Atherton's skills to the fullest and nor did the pitch pose any hazards. Nevertheless, a stay in the middle of 466 minutes will have done wonders for his confidence and reassured England's selectors.
In theory, Atherton has three more innings to play before the side for the first Test is picked. But Kent will have to bat with much resolve in their second innings if this ration is not to be reduced.
Atherton, whose last century was in the penultimate championship match of 1997 against Surrey, made no concessions to flair or glamour. His mission was to remain entrenched and collect runs as they came. He hit only four fours in adding 42 runs before lunch. And he blocked 47 balls before playing his first scoring shot of the afternoon.
Atherton had the luxury of time on his side and if there was any pressure on him to change gear, it was when Mike Watkinson was out for a robust 87, leaving Lancashire 14 overs in which to get 49 for their fourth batting point. It eluded them by just five runs.
Before Watkinson took command, Andrew Flintoff, driving with massive power, was the main provider of momentum. Shouldering arms to a ball from Carl Hooper that turned a long way, Flintoff was Lancashire's only casualty before lunch. The nearest Kent came to dislodging Atherton before he mistimed a cut at Matthew Fleming was when he was 55. Dean Headley found his edge with a beauty, but the snick dropped short of first slip.
Day 3: Hooper breaches barrier
By D J Rutnagur at Canterbury
Third day of four: Kent (186 & 343-3) lead Lancashire (445) by 84 runs
RECOVERIES are meant to be grim affairs, waged with clenched teeth at the price of sweat and tears. But this was not the manner in which Carl Hooper, unbeaten with 147, led Kent's fightback and deprived Lancashire of a potentially decisive first-innings advantage.
Kent began their second innings 90 minutes before lunch with an oppressive deficit of 259. It was wiped off in 78 overs with only three wickets lost and 70 minutes of the day's play remaining.
The speed at which Hooper scored his runs was crucial to Kent's survival. Launching a furious assault on Mike Watkinson, off whom he took 24 from 22 balls, Hooper reached his 50 from 54 balls. During an over from Ian Austin in which he plundered 23, he arrived at his hundred from 99 balls, with 15 fours and four sixes. In the remaining hour, he struck three more fours and two sixes.
If Watkinson and Ian Austin took the full blast of his fury, Lancashire's other bowlers did not go unscathed and Wasim Akram was limited by a groin injury.
Hooper, whose century was his 17th in 73 championship matches for Kent, was at the core of Kent's resurgence, but he was by no means Kent's only hero. Their openers, David Fulton and Robert Key, a sturdy teenager from Dulwich, put on 86 before the latter, hooking Peter Martin, gloved a catch to Warren Hegg.
Fulton batted with increasing authority and when Kent lost their second wicket at 124, with Ward ladling a catch to extra-cover, Lancashire were already looking to save runs.
With Hooper, Fulton added 132 in 32 overs and was four short of his hundred when he missed a deflection at Martin and was lbw.
Day 4: Hooper the trouper repays Kent's faith
By Paul Weaver at Canterbury
IT is surprising, almost unbelievable, but Kent considered replacing Carl Hooper, one of the outstanding talents in the world game, with Paul Strang this summer. It was not as though Hooper had failed them. Indeed, since joining the county six years ago he had proved one of the most astute purchases from the 30-year-old stalls of the overseas market.
In five seasons between 1992 and 1997 - he missed 1995 because he was with West Indies - Hooper played 70 first-class matches for Kent. There had been 5,499 runs, at an average of 51.88, and 123 wickets at 36.03. He had also been an outstanding slip fielder and his all-round skills made him the fulcrum of the one-day side.
But Hooper is a cricketer who marches to his own steel band. Beyond the boundary he has the reputation of a loner. At Kent, he had not been disruptive but neither had he proved, to use that ambiguous and rather chummy phrase, a particuarly good ``team man.'' Showered and away, that was Hoops.
The affable Strang, meanwhile, proved a useful replacement last year. There were 63 wickets from the leg-spinner and 590 runs and when Kent's top order worked, which admittedly was not too often, they looked a more balanced team. On and off the field Strang was a full member of the Kent side, as if he had quaffed Shepherd Neame bitter on his mother's knee.
Some important people at Canterbury were in favour of keeping Strang at the end of last season but two factors weighed in Hooper's favour. First, he was under contract for 1998, so if Kent dispensed with him it would have cost them a lot of money, and second, their middle order had proved so unreliable in his absence.
So Hooper returned and today Kent officials are smiling and patting themselves on the back. The new maturity he has brought to his Test game, where he has lifted his average from the late 20s to the middle 30s, has been extended to his county career.
This season he has been more involved off the field, with the highly respected coach John Wright. Aware of the impact made by Strang, Hooper has also studied the Zimbabwean's figures and told friends that this summer he intends to not only score 1,000 runs but also take 50-plus wickets.
He went wicketless yesterday, as Kent drew their match with Lancashire, but his second double hundred for the club will not easily forgotten.
He was 147 not out when Kent resumed on 343 for three, a lead of 84, and went on to reach 203 from 210 balls before he was caught at long-off by Neil Fairbrother as he attempted to deposit another Mike Watkinson delivery into the Leslie Ames stand.
There were six sixes and 23 fours. Of the 142 added for the fourth wicket with Alan Wells, the former Sussex batsman made just 35. Hooper reached his double hundred 57 minutes more quickly than Mike Atherton took to get to three figures.
When Hooper was fifth out, at 444, Kent were forced to choose between quick, pre-declaration runs and defending their remaining wickets. Steve Marsh took the bolder option, with a 44-ball 50. Kent were all out for 517, setting Lancashire a target of 259 from 50 overs. At the close they were 125 for two, with Fairbrother 52 not out.