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Heino Kuhn hurries Kent home after drainage leak delay

Heino Kuhn clubs one down the ground Getty Images

Kent 174 (van der Gugten 7-42) and 195 for 4 (Kuhn 69*) beat Glamorgan 94 (Stevens 6-26) and 274 (Marsh 76, Murphy 54, Henry 4-59) by six wickets
Scorecard

A leak from the Sophia Gardens underground drainage system delayed Kent a little, but they had few alarms in securing their second County Championship win of the season as Heino Kuhn anchored the six-wicket victory with an unbeaten 69.

The third day's play could not begin for more than an hour and a half due to a damp patch at the edge of the pitch. Then Glamorgan's last pair added just a single to their overnight score before Matt Henry had Michael Hogan caught at third slip, giving the New Zealand pace bowler match figures of 8 for 90 and taking his season's tally to 27.

The pitch had flattened out considerably since 19 wickets fell on the opening day, and the Kent openers Daniel Bell Drummond and Sean Dickson laid the foundation with an opening partnership of 77 in 22 overs. Both batsmen played some handsome drives through the off side and there was only one play and miss in the first 21 overs.

Bell-Drummond contributed 36 to the opening partnership before he was leg before to the persevering Timm van der Gugten - his eighth victim of the game. Dickson was the next to go, leg before to Marchant de Lange, the Kent opener becoming the 14th lbw dismissal in the game.

Kuhn soon made his intentions clear with a flurry of boundaries, although Andrew Salter's offspin commanded respect and he almost had Kuhn prodding to short leg in his third over.

Kuhn reached a rapid half century from 49 balls, with a large proportion of his runs - 40 - coming from boundaries. His captain Joe Denly also played with ease, once lifting Salter over long-on for six as Kent's third wicket pair closed in on their target.

Kuhn and Denly had put on 71 at four runs an over before Denly, aiming for his second six over long-on, was brilliantly caught by the substitute fielder Tom Cullen, Glamorgan's reserve wicketkeeper, who dived to his left and held on to take the catch inches from the ground and the boundary rope.

With two runs required, Zak Crawley became yet another lbw victim, before Darren Stevens scored the winning runs to give Kent a well-earned victory.

Kent 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st77DJ Bell-DrummondSR Dickson
2nd25HG KuhnSR Dickson
3rd71JL DenlyHG Kuhn
4th20HG KuhnZ Crawley
5th2DI StevensHG Kuhn