Zak Crawley stars amid bowlers onslaught to put Kent in command

Zak Crawley hit 91 to leave Kent in a strong position at the end of day two in their LV= Insurance County Championship game with Northamptonshire at Canterbury. The visitors were reduced to 47 for two in their second innings, still trailing by 58 at stumps.

Crawley was by some distance the top scorer in a game otherwise dominated by the bowlers. Chris Tremain took five for 44 and Jack White four for 57 as Kent were all out for 222, while earlier Matt Quinn took 4 for 25 as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 117 in their first innings.

Only 26 overs were bowled on day one and although the weather had improved drastically when Northamptonshire resumed on 89 for seven, batting didn't seem any easier as Quinn struck with the second ball of the morning, getting James Sales lbw for five.

Gareth Berg went down fighting, hitting three successive fours off Michael Hogan and he put on 32 with Tremain, but the highest partnership of the innings ended when Quinn had the latter caught behind for 9. With his next delivery Quinn bowled White for a golden duck, leaving Berg stranded on 21.

Kent's openers Ben Compton and Crawley put on 42 for the first wicket, but the former was caught behind for 25, leaving the hosts on 50 for one at lunch.

The Spitfires advanced to 90 for one when Tremain revived the visitors with two wickets in three balls.

Daniel Bell-Drummond fell for 27 to a steepling catch by Josh Cobb at short fine leg and Joe Denly was lbw for a second-ball duck.

Crawley steered Kent into the lead and reverse-swept Rob Keogh to reach 49, before pulling the same bowler to backward square leg for three to reach his half-century, but White then responded with two quick wickets.

Jack Leaning was lbw for 26 before Jordan Cox edged the third ball he faced down the leg side to Lewis McManus for five.

Kent had moved to 192 for five at tea and Crawley looked set to reach three figures when he misjudged a Tremain delivery and Berg took a dolly in the covers. Joey Evison then edged White behind for five and Grant Stewart was caught behind off Tremain for a four-ball duck.

With just the tail to bat with, Sam Billings hit out. He was dropped in the deep by Tremain off White and smashed the next ball back over White's head for six, before he fell in hideous fashion to Tremain, the ball catching the toe of his raised bat before it looped to McManus. Hogan was dropped in the slips off the next ball and he cracked the four that steered the Kent lead past three figures before the innings was concluded when White had Quinn lbw for 2.

Quinn had Ricardo Vasconcelos caught by a leaping Compton for four and Evison had Sam Whiteman caught behind for 12, but mildly farcical scenes ensued as the floodlights came on at 7pm, with batters Hassan Azad and Luke Procter apparently keen to leave the field.

After a lengthy discussion in the middle, play continued with Kent bowling their spinners Leaning and Denly for an over each, but no further wickets fell.