Date-stamped : 30 May96 - 02:14 County Championship 1996 Kent v Yorkshire St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury 23, 24, 25, 27 May 1996 ====> REPORT (Day 1, 23 May 1996) Bevan leading the Yorkshire drive By Simon Hughes at Canterbury First day of four: Yorks 261-5 v Kent HONOURS were about even after the first day of Yorkshire`s two- week tour of the south. In unfamiliar sunshine the top four in the order all made an impact, but as the weather deteriorated, so did the innings. If the team can consolidate their early-season form, by the time the players remove their 14th pair of dirty socks on this trip they could top the Championship and Sunday League and have progressed to the semi-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup. One supporter is so convinced of their prospects he is travel- ling daily from Staffordshire to watch them play. Michael Bevan was the linchpin of their innings yesterday - as he has been all season. Coming in at 68 when Michael Vaughan edged a lifting Martin McCague delivery into the infallible hands of Carl Hooper, Bevan took 20 minutes to get off the mark. He then unleashed a succession of punched drives, soon overtaking his captain David Byas, who had given him several overs start. His footwork was nimble, and though he still looks uneasy against anything with malicious intent, he does not let it disrupt his concentration and reached 80. McCague was the only Kent bowler quick enough to dish out any short stuff, but he was ably supported by the whippy seamer Nick Preston who, on his second county appearance, took his maiden first-class wicket, and afterwards broke the Bevan-Byas stand, inducing a top-edged pull then a fatal nibble outside off stump. ====> REPORT (Day 2, 24 May 1996) Blakey brings up 10,000 By Simon Hughes Second day of four:Yorks 320-7 v Kent THE weather relented just long enough yesterday morning for Richard Blakey to record his 10,000th first-class run and his first fifty for two years before the teams were shooed off to sample the delights of June`s dining room. It is always fresh fish on Fridays. Thereafter it was a case of killing time playing football or deciphering various sporting posers, including nominating the four English racecourses without the letters r, a, c or e in them. Having a flutter used to be the definitive pastime for cricketers and still is in the Kent team by virtue of the fact that Graham Cowdrey and his father are both married to ladies of the equine world. At least the rain gave the creaking Kent attack more recupera- tion time. Alan Igglesden aggravated a disc problem batting for the 2nd XI this week and Dean Headley has had a scan on a sore hip and is optimistic of being fit in two weeks. Yorkshire conversely are bursting at the seams with young quickies - Alex Wharf, Chris Silverwood, Gavin Hamilton, Paul Hutchison, Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom (son of Arnie) - all from the county`s academy. No doubt the academy does not teach them the answer to the horse racing question, namely Goodwood, Huntingdon, Ludlow and Plumpton. ====> REPORT (Day 3, 25 May 1996) Ward clips White Rose By Simon Hughes Third day of four: Yorks (350-8 dec & 29-1) lead Kent (299) by 80 runs KENT v Yorkshire is a heavyweight sort of fixture in its 125th year. South v North, bourgeois v proletariat, a summer version of Chelsea v Leeds - two sides with a distinguished reputation that for 20 years or so they have struggled to live up to. This situation has not deterred hordes of Yorkshiremen from making the trip. They have a boisterous young side (average age 25) thrusting forward in all competitions. A traditional inferiority complex may prevent them overcoming a Surrey team bursting with self-belief in Tuesday`s Benson and Hedges quarter-final, but there is no reason why they cannot mount a serious challenge in the championship, which, for a while yester- day, they led. The influence of the Yorkshire cricket academy is clear: unpretentious batsmen who stand still and play straight, athletic fielders with strong arms, robust bowlers with high ac- tions who get in close to the stumps. The optimistic lbw appealing bears all the hallmarks of the academy`s head coach, Arnie Sidebottom. On the field they are galvanised by the stri- dent tones of David Byas. This enterprising unit was defied almost single-handedly by Trevor Ward. Coming in at 29 for one, after Matthew Fleming had perished attempting his third over-ambitious pull of a frenet- ic little innings, Ward dealt with all-comers in his familiar, imperious way, thumping anything fractionally over-pitched and swivelling to despatch the short stuff with alacrity. His 100 was made out of 168 while he was at the wicket and he com- pletely dominated stands of 57 with David Fulton and 50 with Graham Cowdrey. It was his second century of the season. Apart from Fleming`s miasma, the feet of Fulton and Marsh got stuck in the blocks, Llong somehow glided a half-volley to second slip and Cowdrey looked unconvincing before top-edging a paddle shot. Only Hooper was dismissed by a genuinely awk- ward delivery. ====> REPORT (Day 4, 27 May 1996) By Doug Ibbotson at Canterbury Yorkshire (350-8 dec & 223-4) drew with Kent (299) UNCHARITABLE best describes the atmosphere as, amid justifiable public frustration, the contest between Kent and Yorkshire degenerated into burlesque here yesterday. Whatever twisted threads were weaved into the plot the overall tapestry was one of farce as Kent deployed 11 bowlers in a vain attempt to goad Yorkshire into action. Nigel Llong, three championship wickets for 232 runs last sea- son, bowled a succession of maidens to Australian Test batsman Michael Bevan, who, when bad light mercifully stopped play, had occupied the crease for 33 overs to score 15 runs. Anthony McGrath, having topped a career-best championship 91, received 30 more balls before reaching his hundred with seven fielders mockingly on the boundary. David Byas defended Yorkshire`s tactics by suggesting Kent should have declared at tea on Saturday - 214 for six. "There was only one winner in a short run chase and we were not prepared to gift Kent a victory," he said. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http.//www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)