Sami sizzles as Kent take control

Kent 254 (Symonds 107) and 103 for 0 (Fulton 50*, Key 45*) lead Northamptonshire 250 (Sami 4-39) by 107 runs
Scorecard

In cricket-speak, Mohammad Sami's bowling is termed as "rapid". Even at Wantage Road, where fast bowlers sometimes fear to tread, he has strutted his stuff with devastating effect.

Reared in Karachi, Sami is used to bowling on unresponsive tracks and the skills he learned during his formative years stood him in excellent stead on the second day of this championship match against Northamptonshire.

At 123 for 1 in reply to Kent's 254, Northamptonshire were working towards a crucial first-innings lead, and showing that perhaps they are more than just relegation fodder this year.

But then the rain arrived and after the enforced hiatus, which cost 25 overs, the initiative switched to the visitors. The reason? Sami had switched on his radar. He had been wasteful in his first spell, but within three overs Northants had lost four wickets and were on their way to being dismissed for 250. A first-innings lead had been swapped for a deficit.

Sami, who possesses that crucial fast-bowling asset of looking as though he is constantly angry with life, began the collapse with a vicious bouncer to Martin van Jaarsveld. Pelting in from the pavilion end, he dug the ball in short and van Jaarsveld could only glove to slip.

Tim Roberts was watching at the other end and he didn't have to wait too long for his turn. Nine runs had been added to the score when Roberts lost his off peg, falling for 69 with a maiden first-class hundred slipping through his fingers once again.

Sami then ratcheted up the pace and at 147 for 6, Northants were in trouble. Graeme Swann and Gerry Brophy were both beaten for pace, with Brophy halfway through his stroke as Sami knocked his stumps out. Sami had three wickets in six balls.

Only David Sales was able to offer any significant resistance, and his 70 rescued Northants from terminal decline. As their sixth captain in seven years, Sales is clearly hoping his stewardship will last longer than his recent predecessors. After Sami was rested from the attack, Sales used his feet and impeccable timing to hit two sixes and seven fours.

When he finally fell, caught hoicking Min Patel to leg, he had given his team a fighting chance. Kent, though, were not about to repeat their first-innings mistake of wasting the opportunity to bat on a decent pitch.

David Fulton and Rob Key hardly broke sweat as they carried Kent into 107-run lead. With Sami his chief WMD, Fulton knows a third win of the season is becoming a possibility.

Nick Hoult is assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer