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Lancashire could be qualified for the late summer top group come the middle of next week.

The top two sides from each of the three groups advancing to challenge for the County Championship title in late August and through September.

Lancashire are top of Group Three, 16 points clear of Northamptonshire in third place with two rounds remaining.

Northants host second placed Yorkshire at Wantage Road. That means someone, if not both teams will drop points, and a win should seal qualification.



The Red Rose will be bidding for their fifth win of the season in nine games, with one of those wins coming against Kent at Canterbury by an innings at the end of April.

A repeat would do very nicely!

Team news: Lancashire are hopeful Jimmy Anderson will be made available as he prepares for England’s forthcoming Test series against India, starting early next month.

Anderson played in two Championship games prior to England’s early summer Test series against New Zealand, though he didn’t bowl in the rainy draw against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Mind you, no Red Rose bowler did given only 34.3 overs were bowled in the game.

Liam Livingstone played in Lancashire’s last Championship game, the three-day defeat against Glamorgan at Cardiff early last month. But he is now away with England’s one-day international squad.

Josh Bohannon has not played any cricket for the last fortnight having suffered a side strain playing second-team cricket, though he is back in training.

Opponents: Kent may be in contention for the quarter-finals in the Vitality Blast having played some excellent T20 cricket over the last month, but they have had a nightmare campaign in the Championship.

They sit second bottom of Group Three with no wins from eight games, losing three of those.

Coach Matt Walker and co are one of only two counties yet to win a Championship game this summer, with Derbyshire who are bottom of Group One being the other.

All three defeats came back-to-back in April and were hammering as well!



They lost to Yorkshire at home by 200 runs, to Lancashire at home by an innings and five and then by 10 wickets to Glamorgan at Cardiff.

In a rain-affected home game against Glamorgan in late May, Kent were in more trouble at 128-8 before Darren Stevens whacked 190 off 149 balls to recover them.

Wicketkeepers Ollie Robinson and Jordan Cox are their leading Championship run-scorers with 534 and 434 respectively. Robinson takes the gloves in Championship cricket, while Cox has taken them in the Blast recently.

But 45-year-old all-rounder Stevens has been their outstanding player in Championship cricket this year. He has scored 423 runs in the middle order and has taken 26 with his seamers.

That is the same number of wickets as Lancashire’s leading Championship wicket-taker Tom Bailey.

England Test batsman Zak Crawley will play his eighth Championship game of the season. He is yet to score a century this summer.

South African overseas batsman Heino Kuhn has only played two Championship games so far this season.

Zimbabwe-born 20-year-old batsman Tawenda Muyeye is one to watch.

This is his first season as a professional having been named as Wisden’s Schools Cricketer of the Year following some standout performances at Eastbourne College in Sussex. He and his family have successfully sought asylum in the UK, and his ambition is to play for England.

Kent drew their last Championship match against Northamptonshire at Canterbury at the start of June. Batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond will be their captain.

Previous meeting: Lancashire claimed their second win in three games against Kent at Canterbury in April, with star leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson taking a superb second-innings career best 7-126.

The Red Rose’s innings and five-run victory, after tea on day four on an attritional pitch, was set up by a first-innings 525.

Remarkably, Lancashire were in early bother at 85-4 having been inserted and later on day one 248-7. But Danny Lamb and Luke Wood shared a new Red Rose record eighth-wicket partnership of 187.

Lamb top-scored with 125, reaching his century with a six, while Wood made 119.



Tom Bailey then claimed four wickets as Kent replied with only 169, only for the hosts - following on - to recover and begin day four on 209-1.

Needing 147 more to avoid an innings defeat, they encountered a never say die bowling performance from Parkinson and his colleagues.

Josh Bohannon made a crucial early breakthrough to bowl Daniel Bell-Drummond for 114 before Parkinson took on the main role.

Having struck on day three, he added six more wickets, alongside two for Lamb, as the hosts were bowled out for 351 in the final session of the game to give Lancashire a 21-point haul.

Parkinson, for his 7-126, bowled 52 overs in the second innings.

What they said: One win should do it for Lancashire, but they will certainly not be easing up if that were to come against Kent this week.

Only four games are played in the second group phase, and you don’t play the team you have qualified through your initial group with.

Lancashire and Yorkshire are currently the top two sides the group, and points from the two group games are carried.

The ruling is half the aggregate points between the two games.

So, Lancashire claimed 22 points to Yorkshire’s one from the victory in May. And the two sides meet at Headingley in the final round next week.

So if Lancashire repeated that 22 to one haul, they would carry 22 points through to the second phase and Yorkshire one.

So even if qualification is clinched against Kent, that Roses fixture remains incredibly important.



“We want to take maximum points off them, and we certainly won’t be easing off if we beat Kent,” said fast bowler Saqib Mahmood.

“Some of the boys have had a red ball net this week.

“We haven’t focused too hard on Kent yet because of the T20 stuff. But we’re back here at Emirates Old Trafford, where we play good cricket.”

Mahmood picked up a side strain trying to wrestle a victory from the jaws of defeat last time out against Glamorgan at Cardiff. He missed the early stages of the Vitality Blast, but he’s since returned to action.

It is a defeat - their only one of the season - that Lancashire won’t be dwelling on.

“The Glamorgan game was a bit of a lottery with the pitch down there. 19 wickets fell on day one,” added Mahmood.

“The difference in that game was Marnus Labuschagne, the number three Test batsman in the world.

“When you lose a game to someone like that, you can accept it that bit

more.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643123

Kent travel to Manchester to face Lancashire in an LV= Insurance County Championship Group 3 match in the midst of Vitality Blast fixtures at Emirates Old Trafford.

Despite multiple victories in the shorter form of the game, Kent will be searching for their first Championship win of 2021, with weather dampening many chances of victories in the competition to date.

Darren Stevens leads Kent with the ball so far in the first-class game this season, also with 423 runs at 47.00 alongside his 26 wickets at 19.65.

‘Keeper-batter Ollie Robinson tops first-class run charts for the county with 534 in eight innings at 44.50, whilst Matt Quinn, fresh from the announcement the right armer will be a Kent player on a permanent basis from next season, has 12 wickets at 19.33.

Opposition Report
Lancashire are currently top of Group 3 with four wins from eight Championship matches so far.

Josh Bohannon currently has the most runs for the Red Rose county with 471 at 52.33, whilst ‘keeper Alex Davies has 448 runs to his name.

With the ball, Tom Bailey, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood all have over 20 wickets for Lancashire so far in first-class cricket in 2021.

Last time out
Kent drew their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Northamptonshire, despite an engrossing final day at Canterbury.

View Scorecard & In-Play Clips >>>

An obdurate Adam Rossington eventually steered the visitors to safety with an unbeaten 59, but only after a brave declaration by the home side on their overnight score of 335 for five, when they were still 62 runs behind.

Nathan Gilchrist took three for 57 and Darren Stevens two for 42 as the hosts scented an unlikely Group Three victory, only for the game to drift away in the final session, Northamptonshire finishing on 184 for eight declared.

Live Streaming
Lancashire vs. Kent will be streamed and embedded into the Match Centre on the Kent Cricket website, with pictures coming via Lancashire CCC.

Team News
Miguel Cummins has completed his overseas spell as a Kent player and has now left the Club.

After re-joining the Club on loan with a permanent deal confirmed from the 2022 season, Matt Quinn is included in Kent’s travelling squad of 13.

Daniel Bell-Drummond has a thumb injury and is unavailable for this match, and with Sam Billings away on England duty, Joe Denly will captain the side.

Harry Podmore has recovered from his side strain injury, and James Logan could make his Kent first-class debut,