Darren Stevens: I chanced my arm to reach 50

A remarkable half-century from Darren Stevens was the highlight of a low-scoring contest as 17 wickets fell on day two of the LV= COunty Championship match at Leicester.

Together with an eighth wicket partnership of 60 between Adam Ball and Calum Haggett, Stevens' salvo helped Kent establish a first innings lead of 51.

The 39-year-old all-rounder said: “It was one of those pitches when you just don’t know which ball is going to have your name on it, so I took it to them, I batted in funny positions on the crease, I mixed it up, used my feet, and chanced my arm.

“If you’d have tried to bat normally it wouldn’t have worked, probably. If you keep your intent you actually get in better positions anyway, so on a pitch like that you can still come out on top."

Stevens and fellow Kent seamers Haggett and Matt Coles returned to take three wickets each in the second innings to reduce Leicestershire to 110-9 and put the visitors within touching distance of a their second championship win of the season.

“We then bowled well, much better than in their first innings, in fact we executed our plans brilliantly really.” said Stevens, who reached 299 first-class wickets.

He suggested Kent would not like to chase much more than 120, but pointed out Leicestershire’s final pair, Ben Raine and Charlie Shreck, would have to bat very well to give their team that sort of lead.