Settled Jarvis sets up late Lancashire victory

Lancashire 444 (Prince 106, Davies 99, Horton 71, Claydon 4-103) and 107 for 1 (Horton 67*) beat Kent 252 (Northeast 55, Jarvis 4-50) and 295 (Denly 60, Jarvis 4-67) by wickets
Scorecard

Just at the moment the best politicians we can encounter may be the fictitious variety. In the election-debate episode of The West Wing President Jed Bartlet and his staff talk about "the square foot of real estate" which lies inside a person's head and can frustrate any human endeavour. Were he to watch the TV show, Lancashire seamer Kyle Jarvis might nod his head in quiet agreement at this idea.

After failing to make much of an impact at Lancashire since signing for the club in August 2013, Jarvis has now taken 13 wickets for 130 runs in three innings. His 4 for 67 on the final day against Kent played a vital part in Steven Croft's team dismissing their opponents for 295 in their second innings, although doing so took most of the day against batsmen who fought toughly to atone for their collective failings in their first attempt.

But ultimately, Jarvis and his colleagues were not to be denied, not even by the rain clouds over Stretford which threatened to halt the home side's pursuit of 104 in 21 overs. As it turned out, the rain stayed away and the umpires' light meters showed that conditions were playable, although it must have been a tight call. Paul Horton made 67 not out and by early evening Jarvis was joining in the team song which echoed round the Brian Statham End.

It is all a far cry from last summer when, as the Zimbabwean seamer admitted, he felt under pressure and "there was a little bit upstairs" which was preventing him performing at his best. Jarvis was plainly free of such concerns as he raced in from the Pavilion End on the final day of this game. He removed Brendan Nash inside the first half hour of play with a ferocious and well-directed short-pitched delivery which the former West Indian Test cricketer could only fend to Ashwell Prince who trotted in from third slip to complete the catch.

That left Kent on 161 for 4 and they also were to lose Darren Stevens before their first-innings deficit of 192 had been wiped out. The experienced Stevens, so often in the thick of the struggle when Kent are in trouble, was lbw to Peter Siddle for 16 when he failed to get far enough forward to a ball that seemed little more than fast and straight.

Yet Lancashire's players never took their wickets in batches on the final day. The nearest they came to that goal was when they took the new ball immediately after lunch and Jarvis had Sam Billings caught at the wicket for 11, a success which was immediately followed by Peter Siddle bowling Sam Northeast off the inside edge two balls later.

Kent's later batsmen may have rather given up the fight at this stage but they did not. Instead, the last three wickets added 79 runs with Matt Coles showing markedly more resolution in his second innings of the game than in the first and taking 90 minutes over 28 runs before he was caught by Croft at backward short leg off Kerrigan for 28.

Adam Riley resisted even longer and had taken 105 balls to make 17 when he was a little unlucky to be lbw to Jarvis in the evening session. And by the time Mitch Claydon was the last man dismissed, smartly stumped by Davies off Kerrigan for 24, Kent's batsmen had come close to making Lancashire run chase very tricky. Even as it was, the Manchester weather nearly prevented Horton and Alviro Petersen clinching the victory which takes their side to the top of the Division Two table at this early stage of the season.