Diary of a Season: Derbyshire Day 2

Kent 352 and 38 for two v Derbyshire 304. Kent 6 points, Derbyshire 5 points. Kent leads by 86.

We’re in danger of seeing a game of cricket here, the kind where both sides have a genuine chance of winning going into the final innings. This hasn’t happened since the first home game of last season, when Kent chased down 316 against Middlesex and Ben Compton and Tawanda Muyeye both made unbeaten centuries (124 and 125 respectively).

Kent have played seven red ball games at the St Lawrence since then: a draw with Gloucestershire when the visitors were punished for an overcautious declaration; defeat by an innings and 161 runs to Glamorgan; an admittedly dramatic draw with Northants when Tawanda came to the rescue after a fourth day collapse; rain-ruined draws with Leicestershire and Lancashire and a hammering by Derbyshire at the end of last season; and more recently the draw with Northants to open this season when the rain again came to the rescue. If the weather holds we should finally be in for a genuine run chase.