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Kent making a good impression all-round

Kent (541 & 53-3) bt Essex (350 & 243) by 7 wkts

Though the prospect of anybody catching Surrey has looked remote since mid- season, Kent's fourth successive championship victory carried them, if only for a day, to second in the table.

Seven wins seems the magic number for assured Division One status next year, which leaves Kent seeking two more in their last five games. But, excellent though their all-round effort was in a contest of notable ill-feeling, they will hardly take this for granted.

On poor pitches, inconsistency has been the dubious hallmark of championship cricket for years. This summer it has become an art form. Getting on a roll, in the players' phrase, advances sides six or seven places in a fortnight but, in the scramble behind the leaders, teams sink as rapidly as they rise.

Essex, replying to Kent's forbidding 541 an hour after lunch on the second afternoon, managed to carry the game, despite following on, to within 30 minutes of Saturday's scheduled close. Another 10 overs of resistance anywhere along the way would have secured the draw.

To prevail on that rarity, a proper four-day pitch, Kent had Min Patel taking three crucial first-innings wickets before Mark Ealham's seam and changes of pace unlocked the tail. On Saturday, a Martin McCague burst at full throttle in the 50 minutes before tea reduced the second innings from 175 for five to 197 for eight. Such are the features of good all-round team cricket which should leave Kent proud.