Joe Denly century keeps Pakistan at bay

Joe Denly’s unbeaten century helped Kent get to 209/4 in reply to the visiting Pakistanis’ 168 in the 49 overs of play possible on the fourth and final day of the tour game in Canterbury on Tuesday 1 May.

Two entire days of potential acclimatisation time for Pakistan had been lost because of rain. It had left Kent stuck at 39/1, their score at the end of the first day, after right-arm medium pacer Will Gidman had returned 5/47 to shoot Pakistan out cheaply in their first innings.

Imam-ul-Haq was the only Pakistan batsman to do well, scoring 61, staying out in the middle for over two-and-a-half hours and facing 111 balls in cold and overcast conditions.

Sami Aslam (13), Azhar Ali (15), Asad Shafiq (17) and Babar Azam (11) all got starts but couldn’t carry on, while Hasan Ali, the No.10 batsman, was impressive in scoring a quick 11-ball 24 before coming back to remove Daniel Bell-Drummond (1) in the second over of the Kent innings.

When play did take place on the fourth and last day, Sean Dickson and Denly took their partnership, worth 38 at the start of the day, to 160 runs.

Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, tried all his frontline bowling options – Mohammad Amir, Hasan and Rahat Ali, the pacers, and Shadab Khan and Haris Sohail, the spinners – but without much luck.

Dickson, 26, batted well in scoring 74 before his dismissal in the 38th over of the day, leg before to Khan, finally gave the visitors something to cheer about.

Amir cashed in with the wicket of Alex Blake (3) and Khan added the scalp of Zak Crawley (0), both batsmen out bowled.

But Denly, who ended with 113* – his 24th first-class century – in over four hours at the crease and hit 14 fours and three sixes, and Adam Rouse (12*) ensured no more wickets were lost before play wound up.

The Pakistanis have one more four-day tour game lined up against Northamptonshire (4 to 7 May) before they take part in the historic one-off Test against Ireland in Dublin from 11 May.