Durham's 10th-wicket stand leads to draw at Kent

In the County Championship, Durham's 10th-wicket pair of Ben Raine and Callum Parkinson contributed significantly to their team's performance in a drawn match against Kent held at Beckenham. This match, part of Division Two of the Championship, finished with a score of Kent 523 and Durham 446.

Ben Raine’s century, scoring 106 runs, was crucial as Durham fought to avoid a follow-on after being reduced to 288-9 at one point. Kent's Ekansh Singh and Matt Milnes each took three wickets, while England captain Ben Stokes was bowled by James Taylor for 45 runs. The resilience of Raine and Parkinson, who remained unbeaten on 54, allowed them to set a 158-run partnership for the last wicket, staving off any hopes Kent had of a victory.

Raine’s innings came to an end after he reached his century, after which he switched to wicketkeeping and caught Ben Dawkins off a delivery from Graham Clark, ending Kent's second innings at 1-1 after 1.3 overs. The draw was anticipated since rain on day three had prevented play. However, conditions allowed play to resume on day four, where David Bedingham, who was on 74 runs overnight, edged a ball from Milnes and was caught by Tawanda Muyeye.

Stokes had opportunities to score bigger, being dropped twice before falling victim to Taylor’s bowling. After Kasey Aldridge and Matthew Potts also fell, Durham found themselves under pressure but managed to move to 322-9 by lunch.

The last-wicket partnership was notable, as the duo batted for over an hour, with Raine hitting a six over square leg. The previous record for Durham's 10th-wicket stand against Kent, set in 1998, was 109 runs. With Kent unable to break the partnership, Dudgeon attempted spin bowling but was also unsuccessful. Raine rounded off his century with a few runs off Ben Dawkins, and both he and Parkinson scored effectively until the latter was finally bowled by Matt Parkinson.

The match concluded when Kent declared and both teams accepted a draw.