On the third day of the Vitality County Championship First Division match between Somerset and Kent at Taunton, England opener Zak Crawley showed off his return to form with a magnificent double century that spearheaded a thrilling Kent comeback.
The visitors were bowled out for 178 in their first innings after being knocked out for 108 for 5 overnight, with three wickets apiece for Craig Overton and Migael Pretorius. With 61 runs, only Joe Denly provided any opposition, and his team trailed by 376 runs.
In contrast, Crawley and Ben Compton (65), who put up an opening partnership of 194 in 42 overs, made it a very different story in the second innings.
Crawley play best Innings 238
Crawley faced 267 balls and smashed 31 fours and four sixes before falling short of the finish line for 238. Prior to this, he had only managed 67 runs in seven previous Championship innings this season. Daniel Bell-Drummond, the skipper, scored 62.
Even though Kent’s advantage at stumps was just 33 at 409 for 5, they had at least given themselves an opportunity to salvage an improbable draw on day four.
Play started in beautiful sunshine, and it took Somerset an hour and ten minutes to take the five last first-inning wickets held by Kent, despite seamer Josh Davey’s sickness preventing him from bowling. Before a late-order collapse, Denly was undefeated at 32 the previous night and easily reached a half-century off 70 balls.
Joey Everson attempted to drive Pretorius but was bowled for 11. After Lewis Gregory’s first over, Denly replied with two boundaries through the covers, but he soon ran out of partners when Beyers Swanepoel played an odd shot to a wide ball from Gregory and edged to first slip.
With just seven runs added, Grant Stewart played back to Pretorius and was caught lbw for a single as Kent stood at 166 for 7. James Rew, the wicketkeeper for Somerset, then continued his run of spectacular catches this season when he dove low to his left to save Denly’s inside edge from Craig Overton.
At lunch, Compton was undefeated at 22 and the first-inning deficit had been cut by 47. Crawley, who had been sent out on the first ball by Overton the day before, was 23 not out.
After the break, the players were met with warm afternoon sunshine and Crawley was determined not to let the perfect batting conditions slip away, since the ground had become more level. After hitting two boundaries off Jack Leach, the towering opener hit three off Overton in the following over.
With the third, he reached his half-century off just 68 balls. He and Compton proceeded to rule the afternoon session, seldom making a mistake while Gregory futilely shifted his field placements and bowlers. Compton reached a perfect fifty off sixty-seven deliveries, including nine fours.
With a pulled four from Tom Lammonby’s left arm seam, Crawley reached three figures and recorded his 18th boundary of a magnificent innings. Gregory, desperate, resorted to Matt Renshaw’s infrequent off-spin, and the Australian duly obliged, earning Compton an LBW decision with a delivery that was slanted into his pads with his tenth ball.
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Crawley was on 117 and tea was had at 197 for 1. In the last session of the long day’s play, the England star survived a number of scares when he skyed shots that were just beyond the reach of fielders. There were still 43 overs to go.
After facing 242 balls and reaching 200 with an Andy Umeed leg-break over the long-on line, Crawley’s boundary tally had increased to 29 fours and two sixes. While Bell-Drummond was equally unfazed as he reached a 90-ball half-century, Somerset looked completely dissatisfied when Leach struck two consecutive deliveries off a fair length to significantly improve the situation.
Bell-Drummond and Marcus O’Riordan, who were both lbw pressing forward, were taken care of. Knowing that there were just six overs remaining in the day’s play, Somerset took the second new ball with Kent only 12 runs ahead at 388 for 3.
It explained away Crawley, who was caught behind by Pretorius while trying to force a shot through the off-side with his back foot, and nightwatcher Gilchrist, who was bowled by Pretorius off what turned out to be the last ball of the day.
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