County Championship: Leicestershire on top against Kent
Last updated on .From the section Counties
| LV= County Championship Division Two, Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence (day three) |
| Leicestershire 386 & 189-8: McKay 43, Taylor 33no, Thomas 3-46, Stevens 3-45 |
| Kent: 268: Denly 87, Northeast 84, McKay 6-54 |
| Leicestershire lead by 307 runs |
| Leicestershire 7pts, Kent 5pts |
| Match scorecard |
Clint McKay was on form with bat and ball for Leicestershire as 15 wickets fell on day three against Kent.
Australian McKay took 6-54 as Kent collapsed from 257-4 to 268 all out, with Sam Northeast being dismissed for 84 and Joe Denly making 87.
Leicestershire slipped to 86-7 with Ivan Thomas (3-46) particularly on form, before McKay rescued his side with a quick-fire 43.
The visitors closed with a useful lead of 307 runs on 189-8.
Kent began the day on 155-3 in the first innings, trailing by 231 runs, and Northeast and Denly took their partnership to 139 before the latter was trapped leg before by Ben Raine.
Once Northeast fell it sparked a dramatic turnaround including four wickets in 12 balls as McKay took his first five-wicket haul for Leicestershire.
Starting their second innings with a lead of 118, Thomas got rid of Matthew Boyce and Ned Eckersley cheaply before Angus Robson (30) and Mark Cosgrove (29) put on 50 for the third wicket.
Leicestershire then lost five wickets for 15 runs but McKay's 36-ball innings, including a six and seven fours, took the lead past 250 before he was bowled by Darren Stevens (3-45).
Rob Taylor's unbeaten 33 and Jigar Naik's 23 not out helped Leicestershire push their lead in excess of 300 to set up an intriguing final day.
Leicestershire's Clint McKay said:
"Anytime you go into the final day with a 300-plus lead has to be good.
"Sure we're confident, but it's about us making sure we keep improving our position.
"Once we get a chance to bowl, we must make sure we do exactly the same job that we did in their first innings by keeping things tight.
"If we can maintain the scoreboard pressure for long enough, things will hopefully go our way."
