Yorkshire do rain dance to stem Kent attack (From Gazette & Herald)

Yorkshire do rain dance to stem Kent attack

9:27am Saturday 28th April 2012 in Sport By Chris Parrott

YORKSHIRE will be hoping the dire weather forecast over the weekend is accurate in Canterbury.

If it is not, they will face a tough task to try and preserve their unbeaten start to the 2012 season against Kent in the LV=County Championship division two.

This is after their hosts dominated day two of the contest at the St Lawrence Ground.

By the close, they had reached 316-6 in their first innings, a healthy lead of 69 runs.

It means Yorkshire may well need the intervention of the predicted rain if they are to emerge with anything from the contest.

The reason the county are so far behind in the game is mainly down to a brilliant innings from Brendan Nash.

Recruited this summer by Kent from domestic cricket with Jamaica in West Indies, he closed on 114 not out to record his first century for the county.

It was the difference on an otherwise even day, which was finely poised until the 34-year-old walked to the crease.

At this stage Kent had stumbled to 125-3 from their overnight score of four without loss, with the Tykes then putting themselves in an even better position shortly after lunch.

Ajmal Shahzad did most of the damage with two wickets, before Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson all struck to reduce Kent to 158-5.

Suddenly a first innings lead for Yorkshire was not out of the question, but with Nash then joined by Geraint Jones in the middle, the game swung Kent’s way.

Together, they added 77 runs to their team’s total, with Nash then continuing the fight back after Jones was dismissed by Sidebottom for 47.

This time he was aided by James Tredwell, with the two hitting an increasingly frustrated Yorkshire attack to all parts by the end of play.

Nash soon passed three figures off 156 balls and after hitting 14 boundaries, with Tredwell patiently making his way to an unbeaten 28 by the close.

The centurion Nash was rightly applauded off the pitch for his efforts, to leave Yorkshire looking to the sky for sanctuary over the coming days in the Garden of England.

They will also need to improve their current over rate at some stage, which stood at minus two at stumps.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire will be deprived of both Dunnington-based Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for their Championship clash with Gloucestershire next month.

It’s after they were both included in a 12-man England Lions squad for a game with West Indies at Northampton.

The Tykes are one of only three counties who have seen two members of their first team called up for the contest. Gloucestershire will be unaffected for the fixture in Bristol.