Kiwi county Tour: County Championship #10
Matt Henry was a low key batting maestro on the Kiwi County Tour last year and after dominating with the ball for Kent this season, Henry finally flexed with the willow. We've also got Lord Jeetz resuming normal wicket-taking service and Kane Williamson churning out runs, while Lockie Ferguson is battling to suss out County cricket.
Matt Henry - Kent vs Derbyshire
With a First-Class batting average of 22.25 and a Test half-century, Matt Henry showcased his batting ability in Kent's win over Derbyshire. Coming up against Lockie Ferguson, Henry took the honours in the niggly contest between two kiwi seamers on the fringe of consistent Blackcaps selection. Henry smacked 81 off 75 in Kent's first innings, striking at 108sr via 6 fours and 4 sixes.
Kent took control early and were all out for 561 in their first dig, then dismissing Derbyshire for 400. Henry didn't take a wicket though, conceding 4.31rpo off his 22 overs and with Kent forcing Derbyshire to follow-on, Henry did manage to get a wicket in the second innings as he finished up with 1w @ 2.10rpo in 19 overs. This saw Derbyshire dismissed for 270 and Kent only had to chase 110 for victory, which they did with 6 wickets remaining, within 20 overs.
Henry currently sits in 2nd for Division Two wickets and even though he only took 1w in this game, that 1w did bump Henry up to 50w for the season @ 15.84avg/3.01rpo.
Lockie Ferguson - Derbyshire vs Kent
The difference between Henry and Lockie Ferguson was literally, Henry's runs as Ferguson also struggled to have much of an impact on this game with the ball. Ferguson got through a another huge workload, bowling 31 overs in the first innings with 1w @ 3.32rpo and then put in a solid shift with the bat, scoring 16 off 28 balls down the order.
Ferguson then got a 10-ball duck in Derbyshire's follow-on innings and Ferguson only had to bowl 4 overs as Kent worked their way to victory. Those 4 overs did feature 1w @ 6rpo and despite taking 2w to Henry's 1w, Ferguson is playing second fiddle to Henry on the KCT bus this week after Henry took a narrow win via his batting.
Although Ferguson hasn't been overly dominant with wickets, he is getting extremely high usage and this can only be beneficial for him. 31 overs in the first innings of this game comes after Ferguson got through 26 overs in the first innings of the previous game vs Sussex and in total, Ferguson has bowled 36 and 35 overs through these two games. Ignore the wickets, this just feels like a great experience for a fast bowler and the County schedule will only help Ferguson's reps.
Kane Williamson - Yorkshire vs Somerset
Yorkshire suffered a home defeat to Somerset and Kane Williamson would have loved to have contributed more in this game, yet those on board the KCT bus were chuffed to see Williamson post another notable score. Williamson got this game rollin' with a couple overs at the bowling crease, without a wicket as Yorkshire dismissed Somerset for 399. Then Williamson battled away for 18 off 50 balls as Yorkshire were all out for 320 in reply.
Williamson wasn't required with the ball in the second innings and Somerset reached 339/7dec, to set Yorkshire a target of 419 to win. Top-scoring for Yorkshire, Williamson's 51 wasn't enough to take Yorkshire close to a win, nor was it enough to salvage a draw as Yorkshire were all out for 194 and Somerset took the win.
This was however, Williamson's third 50+ score in four innings. Last round Williamson hit 87 and 61, backed up with the 51 in this game, none of which has helped Yorkshire win cricket games. They lost by over an innings last round and were defeated by Somerset in this round and while Williamson can do better, a wee bit of support for our kiwi hero would be helpful.
Jeetan Patel - Warwickshire vs Glamorgan
Warwickshire Bears captain Jeetan Patel took 10w in a big win over Glamorgan in the type of performance we have come to expect from Lord Jeetz. In just 10.4 overs, Jeetz took 3w @ 2.15 to help Warwickshire dismiss Galmorgan for 203 in the first innings and Warwickshire then settled into a dominant position as they reached 503 all out.
Lord Jeetz then came to the bowling crease to bring the ruckus, taking 7w in 26.4ov @ 3.11rpo to dismiss Glamorgan for 265 and seal the win. This gives Patel 49w @ 20.71avg/2.81rpo for this season and Patel has now taken 40+ wickets in each of his last seven seasons in County cricket. Last season was the first season in which Jeetz took less than 50w (streak of five seasons with 50+ wickets) and if he can get up over 50 wickets this season, that will mean that Jeetz has taken 50+ wickets in six of his last seven County cricket seasons.
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Peace and love 27.