Grant Stewart's belligerent 173* brings Kent back from the brink
Grant Stewart posted a brilliant swashbuckling hundred to inspire a notable Kent fightback on the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol.Their backs firmly against the wall after being reduced to 137 for 6, the visitors were indebted to the seventh-wicket pair of Stewart and Chris Benjamin, who staged a revitalising unbeaten stand of 249 in 56 overs to rescue a parlous situation. Stewart registered a career-best score of 173 not out from 174 balls with 19 fours and five sixes, while Benjamin contributed a cautious yet chanceless 82 not out, hewn from 212 deliveries with five fours, as Kent reached the close on 386 for 6.Stewart and Benjamin made history in the Bristol sunshine, establishing a record seventh-wicket stand in all matches for Kent, eclipsing the 248 scored by Arthur Day and Punter Humphreys against Somerset at Taunton in 1908. It was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes after Gloucestershire’s bowlers had dominated the first few hours, Ajeet Singh Dale claiming 4 for 97 and Tom Price and Josh Shaw weighing in with a wicket apiece to justify captain Cameron Bancroft’s decision to bowl first.If Kent mindsets were fragile following defeat by an innings and 161 runs at the hands of Glamorgan last time out, Gloucestershire’s bowlers certainly took full advantage. But the visitors will now feel they have the upper hand after Stewart and Benjamin turned the tables in such comprehensive fashion, banking three batting bonus points which had appeared beyond them earlier in the day.Requiring a solid start, Kent achieved exactly the opposite, Harry Finch pursuing Shaw’s second delivery of the day outside leg stump, offering a tame catch to James Bracey behind the stumps and departing for 1. That set the tone, Tom Price sending down four maidens in five overs that yielded just one run as Ben Compton and Daniel Bell-Drummond fought to see off the new ball.Their resistance quickly crumbled in the face of a fiery spell from Singh Dale, who generated impressive pace to remove both in the space of seven balls from the Ashley Down Road end. Bell-Drummond miscued an attempted drive and spooned a catch to mid-on, while Compton, having taken 19 balls to get off the mark and demonstrated no little application in moving his score to 19, drove loosely at a delivery that pitched outside off stump and was pouched by the diving Bracey as Kent slipped to 36 for 3.Jack Leaning never looked comfortable, was squared up by Singh Dale and sent a looping catch to Bancroft at second slip, at which point Singh Dale boasted figures of 3 for 22 from five overs. The only one of Kent’s top-order batters to play with any authority, Tawanda Muyeye raised 25 from 37 deliveries with four fours before edging a ball that nipped off the seam to the reliable Bancroft at second slip, affording Tom Price the wicket his accuracy deserved. In urgent need of a stabilising influence, the visitors were grateful to Benjamin and Jaydn Denly, who ensured they reached lunch without further loss on 85 for 5.Looking to play positively, England Under-19 batsman Denly helped himself to a sumptuous cover-driven four at the expense of Tom Price to signal a change in momentum as Kent’s first innings realised three figures in the 33rd over. Failing to maintain the tight lines that had characterised their work in the morning, Gloucestershire’s seamers were powerless to prevent the sixth wicket pair adding 63 in 15.3 overs.Singh Dale returned to break the partnership, beating Denly for pace with a ball that ricocheted off bat and pad and hit the top of off stump. Denly had mustered 39 from 51 balls and accrued six fours and was just two runs adrift of his highest first-class score when he departed with the board on 137 for 6.Surviving Singh Dale’s second spell, Benjamin and Stewart found the going easier thereafter as the pitch flattened out and the shine disappeared off the ball. Adopting a forthright approach from the outset, Stewart was prepared to take risks and looked to get on the front foot and drive whenever possible. He was first to 50, attaining that landmark via 51 balls as Kent passed 200. The Italy international pulled Graeme van Buuren for six to add to his half dozen fours as the visitors reached the tea interval on a relatively healthy 225 for 6 at the end of a session that had yielded 140 runs for the loss of just one wicket.Adopting a more circumspect approach, the assured Benjamin raised a half century of his own, carefully crafted from 129 balls, as the seventh-wicket alliance continued to prosper into the final session. The hundred partnership occupied 177 balls, at which point Bancroft recalled the talismanic Singh Dale. Although he went past the bat on several occasions, the 24-year-old paceman was unable to provide the breakthrough Gloucestershire coveted.Strong off his legs, Stewart positively rushed to the second first-class hundred of his career, edging Zaman Akhter to the fine leg boundary to raise three figures via 120 balls with his twelfth four. He hooked the next ball to deep midwicket and was caught by Tom Price, only for the unbalanced fielder to step over the rope and concede a six, an act which saw Stewart improve upon his previous highest score of 103 made against Middlesex at Canterbury in 2018.Gloucestershire took the new ball as soon as it became available, but were unable to curtail Stewart’s lusty hitting, the 31-year-old by now scoring at better than a run a ball to progress to his maiden 150 from 152 deliveries as Kent reached the close resurgent. Stewart and Benjamin had already set a new record seventh wicket partnership for Kent in matches against Gloucestershire, surpassing the unbeaten 151 posted by Derek Ufton and Alan Dixon at the Mount in 1960.