Hutton's lone defiance threatens to disrupt Kent's dominance

Kent 472 Middlesex 135-5

It was a case of swings and roundabouts at the St Lawrence Ground yesterday. First Kent swung the bat as they hammered their way to maximum bonus points and an near-impregnable position. Then Martin Saggers did his bit with the ball, pitching it round about the right spot and generating late in-swing to the left-handers.

If Middlesex recover from this very unpromising position, much will be owed to Ben Hutton, who grafted hard and displayed the benefits of the genetic engineering that has gone into his pedigree: grandfathers Sir Len Hutton and Ben Brocklehurst, and father Richard.

Hutton has been batting down the order at Nos 7 and 8 in the Championship this season, with David Nash coming in at No 4. Yesterday there was a reversal in that order and, after the unexpected removal of Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah with the Middlesex innings not four overs old, the pressure was on and a great deal of discipline and patience was called for.

Hutton rose magnificently to the task, producing a studied, three-hour innings, punctuated by the occasional freer shot, but he took few risks. Mark Ealham did find the edge of his bat with Hutton on 29, but luck stood by him. The ball flew like a shell to second slip, hitting James Tredwell painfully on his left shoulder before looping tantalisingly out of the reach of the wicketkeeper, Geraint Jones.

However, when Hutton and the steady Sven Koenig had dragged Middlesex back into the match with a stand of 97, fickle fortune swung the other way and Saggers removed the latter's off stump with a late inswinging yorker. In his next over, a similar ball saw Ed Joyce's off and leg stumps uprooted.

Ben Trott then had Paul Weekes leg-before and the prospect of Middlesex getting past the follow-on figure of 323 looked remote. It is doubtful whether their lower order will be able to match that of Kent's.

Jones led the way with a bright half-century. Tredwell provided lusty support and Saggers, with a hint of what was to come swung his bat at better than a run a ball. Much now depends on Hutton and Nash to try to swing things back Middlesex's way.