A big unbeaten partnership between Ben Compton and Jack Leaning saw Kent earn an opening-game four-day win for the first time in six years on Easter Sunday. Compton (114 not out) and Leaning (67 not out) moved their team from 60-3 to their second-innings target of 227 and a seven-wicket LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 success at Canterbury. Match-winner Compton said: "There was a lot riding on that, especially considering - last time we played Northants here, there was a scenario on day four where it went down to the wire - so [I'm] very chuffed that we could get over the line and sort of redeem ourselves. "It was a fantastic team performance. "I think there were a lot of waves in this game, ebbs and flows. I thought we started really well with the ball in the first innings and Zak [Crawley] set things up beautifully for us in the first innings. "Second innings, it was a bit of a toil. That's what happens in four-day
Cricket - it prolongs - and they batted really well so credit to them. "That's the kind of wicket it was. You just had to show application [because] it wasn't a particularly fast-scoring wicket. You just had to be patient. "Their guys that scored runs showed that. "We're pretty chuffed. It was a pretty all-round team performance, so we're very happy with that." Earlier, it had taken only two balls for Gareth Berg to move to his half-century with the first run of the final day's play. He and Rob Keogh brought up their 100-run partnership with a pull for two by Berg off Michael Hogan (1-93) but, with the next ball, 41-year-old Hogan bowled the Italian international, 42, for 56 with a delivery which swung back a long way. With Kent enjoying a much better start than they had the previous morning, Jack White was trapped lbw for seven by Joey Evison (4-62) with the away team’s score at 319-9. Keogh now decided to attack and sent Hogan for a maximum over long-off before he finished the 117th over with a similar shot - this time for four - to leave Chris Tremain on strike. And Evison did the rest, trapping the
Australian for a sixth-ball duck to finish their second innings. Keogh remained unbeaten on 116 at the end of Northamptonshire’s second innings. There was an unusual delay in the first over of the hosts’ run-chase as the new ball needed to be changed. But Tremain (2-40) made an early breakthrough for Northamptonshire. He bowled
England opener Zak Crawley through the gate for three in the second over. Tremain and fellow opening bowler White (0-55) seemed in the mood. So too did Daniel Bell-Drummond, though, who counter-attacked well with a flurry of boundaries. But his resistance for Kent was ended in the 11th over when he was bowled by Berg (1-38) for a 31-ball 32, which included seven fours in total, to leave them 44-2. A Compton single moved the home side to 50 and they were 56-2 at lunch, the former unbeaten on 17 and Joe Denly not out on four. Northamptonshire struck early in the afternoon session as Tremain bowled Denly for five. Compton, who recently turned 29, then hit 10 off the last three balls of the 28th over to inch the runs still required below the 150-run mark amid a vital passage of play. Away captain Luke Procter turned to spin in 31-year-old Keogh (0-33), seven overs later, and he had two big lbw appeals turned down in his first over. But that didn’t faze Compton, who brought up his first half-century in the 38th over with a beautiful cover drive. The contest had now swung firmly into Kent’s favour at this stage and three more successive fours for Compton got them less than 100 runs away from their target. Left-hander Compton is enjoying batting at The Spitfire Ground in general - but particularly on Easter weekends, having struck back-to-back tons in a heavy defeat to Lancashire this time last year . He was unbeaten on 80 at tea while Leaning was 34 not out, with the hosts 158-3 at the second interval and needing just another 69 runs to win. With Kent easing towards victory, and the partnership between Compton and Leaning past the 100-run mark, the latter brought up his half-century in 102 balls. There was a nervy wait for fans, with Compton on 99, but he managed to sweep to his 11th first-class ton in the 63rd over. All that was then left was for Leaning to scramble home to get Kent home. They previously won their first four-day match of the summer at home to Gloucestershire in 2017. Kent batting coach Alex Gidman said: "In my first game at the club, I thought we were outstanding. We played some great cricket. "It was tough. We've had a challenging pre-season - as most counties have - but to come through that and perform so well, that was really satisfying. "So we're really pleased."