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India spinner talks about his recovery from a serious knee injury last August that eventually needed surgery

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2023Ravindra Jadeja “hadn’t felt the sun for about five months” during his long recovery from a knee injury and surgery that had sidelined him since August last year, a period that he said was “tough” and “frustrating”.Jadeja returned to action just in time for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, which begins on February 9 in Nagpur, successfully testing his fitness in a Ranji Trophy game for Saurashtra. He bowled 41.1 overs against Tamil Nadu and took eight wickets, including a seven-for, and made scores of 15 and 25.”When I went to the ground on the first day, it felt weird,” Jadeja told BCCI.tv. “I hadn’t felt the sun for about five months because I was training indoors and in the gym. I wondered if my body would sustain 90 overs out in the sun on the first day.Related

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“The first day was very tough, especially in the Chennai heat. But my body got used to it eventually on day 2 and 3. Then I felt that I was fit, and I could play four-day or five-day cricket. That game went well, and I picked up wickets, too. A player needs such confidence ahead of a big series, and luckily I got that. I feel good about coming back after preparation, and touchwood, whatever happens hereon will be good.”Jadeja injured his right knee during the Asia Cup last August, and said he had to take a decision on when to have surgery.”I was struggling with my knees and had to get a surgery done. I had to take a decision whether I had to do it before the [T20] World Cup or after the World Cup,” he said. “The doctor suggested I get it done before the World Cup because even if I had not got it operated, chances of me playing in the World Cup was very less. So I made up my mind and went under the knife.”

Jadeja: ‘The two months after injury was very tough’

Jadeja had surgery in early September, and said his recovery period was “a bit up and down,” as he missed the T20 World Cup and all of India’s subsequent fixtures.”It is frustrating to be away from cricket for five months, and I was waiting eagerly to get fit and play for India,” he said. “The period after surgery was tough – I had to undergo a lengthy rehab and training. There were thoughts about when I will get fit.”When you watch matches on TV, I was imagining myself there and realising what I was missing and wished I was there. Those things, though, motivate you to get fit quicker by undergoing rehab and training, strengthen my knees and make a comeback.”Jadeja spent a lot of time at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, where he underwent most of his rehab. “The physios and trainers at NCA worked a lot on my knees, and gave me enough time. NCA used to be shut on Sundays but they used to come down for me and especially help me out.”I used to shuttle between the NCA [Bengaluru] and home [Rajkot] every two-three weeks to keep my mind fresh and help me recover soon. But the two months after injury was very tough, because I was unable to walk and neither could go anywhere. My friends and family helped me in that critical phase.”In fact, the trainers at NCA also boosted my confidence. Whenever I used to complain about the pain and put it off, they used to tell me, ‘Do it for the country, not for you’. I felt good that they were very serious about my knee and wanted me to get back on the field soon.”Jadeja is now poised to made his comeback for India in the first Test against Australia, where he could line up alongside R Ashwin and Axar Patel if India choose to play three spinners in Nagpur.

The infrequency of India-Pakistan games, however, makes it a fascinating contest

Sidharth Monga27-Aug-20228:40

Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant? Cheteshwar Pujara has his say

Big picture

Every time there is an Asia Cup around, its relevance is brought into question. Is it not enough that it brings together India and Pakistan for an actual game of cricket outside the World Cup and Champions Trophy? This edition has the potential of as many as three matches between them. It is not the case but even if the rest of the tournament is a facade to just find a way to have these teams play, it is worth it.

Watch live on ESPN+

If you are in the USA, you can watch the India-Pakistan game live on ESPN+, both in English and Hindi.

Since their last bilateral engagement in the first week of 2013, the two sides have faced each other only 12 times, four of them in the Asia Cup. Among Full Members, they have played only Afghanistan and Ireland less frequently in this period.To have them play frequently is important because the more India and Pakistan play each other, the less jingoistic the fans’ reaction becomes, the less the chances of a repeat of what Mohammed Shami had to face the last time these two teams played.Among the players themselves, distance has made their hearts grow fonder. Just look at the concern India’s players have for the fitness of Shaheen Shah Afridi, their wrecker the last time they played, in the video that has gone viral.Related

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Since that match, India have shed a lot of their inhibition with the bat. Pakistan have shed some ageing batters, but they are still anchor-heavy, which works only in great bowling units. And their bowling is not the same as the last time around. Apart from Afridi not being there, Imad Wasim is missing, and Hasan Ali is back at the last minute only because Mohammad Wasim got injured. That points to the ordinary form of Hasan.India, too, will be missing Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, but they still look more settled coming into the Asia Cup. They are tactically much more switched on than they were earlier. However, come match day in T20 cricket, these things can all be blown out of the park. Especially when you play each other as infrequently as these teams do.

Form guide

India WWWLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWWW2:51

A brief history of India vs Pakistan at the Asia Cup

In the spotlight

Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. We don’t yet know if they are peas from the same pod but the spotlight is sure to follow them wherever they go. Kohli has bought into the team philosophy of taking more risks even though he has himself not been getting the runs. Forget the external noise, it can be silenced, but is the trust the team is putting in him despite an extended dry run now becoming a bit of pressure?Babar continues to be the run machine but does he trust the batters after him sufficiently to play a more enterprising game? It will be in sharp focus now that their bowling attack doesn’t look as strong as it did last year. Especially if Pakistan are sent in to bat first at a chase-friendly venue.

Team news

It is incredible that India could be going into the match with the same top seven as last year but still hold a completely different outlook and threat. It is not likely that they take a player of Kohli’s stature into the squad and then make him sit. That leaves Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik for one slot. Pant is a more all-round batter and is the only left-hand batter in the top six; Karthik is a specialist finisher. Tough choice.The bowling is not at full strength with only Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal as the certainties. Arshdeep Singh, the only left-arm quick in contention for the World Cup, should get in. The final spot will likely be decided between Avesh Khan and R Ashwin.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul 2 Rohit Sharma (capt) 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 R Ashwin/Avesh Khan, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Arshdeep SinghPakistan’s top seven is more or less settled, leaving some debate over the bowlers. With Shadab Khan being the vice-captain, it is unlikely they will be going for two wristspinners, so Mohammad Nawaz is likely to pip Usman Qadir. With Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah providing high pace, they could pick the control of Shahnawaz Dahani over Mohammad Hasnain.Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Asif Ali, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz/Usman Qadir, 9 Shahnawaz Dahani/Mohammad Hasnain, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Naseem Shah

Pitch and conditions

The World Cup last year and all the IPLs in the UAE, where matches began at 6pm, are a clear indicator that Dubai tilts the scales heavily in favour of the chasing side. There is some tackiness early on, and there is dew to contend with for only one side, as opposed to both teams in case of late starts.Other than that, keep an eye out for the oppressive heat. Even during the night, the temperatures are expected to hover around 35°C.

Stats and trivia

• India lead Pakistan 8-5 on head-to-head in the Asia Cup, both formats put together. They are on a three-match winning streak.
• This will be Kohli’s 100th T20I, making him only the second player after Ross Taylor to play 100 international games in all three formats.

Quotes

“When there is an opportunity to try different combinations, we will try. Along the way, if we make mistakes or face difficulties, we’re okay with that. We have spoken about it as a group, and there is nothing to fear.”
“Honestly, that [last World Cup] game is a thing of the past now. It won’t have an impact on Sunday’s match. I am completely focused on tomorrow’s game. The teams are kind of different, the conditions are different. Although as a side we are confident, we won’t talk big ahead of the game. We wish to prove it on the field.”

Opener’s 136 single-handedly holds Notts together for first win of Blast

David Hopps13-Jun-2021If you are England, then you habitually look away now. But perhaps the time has come when you shouldn’t. Joe Clarke, who has been easy to ignore since his career went off the rails, played one of the finest T20 innings ever produced in England, an innings so mellow in its destruction that birds might have fallen from the sky, or traffic outside the Northampton ground come to a halt in supplication.Clarke’s 136 from 65 balls, with 11 sixes and six fours, was the eighth-highest T20 score in England and the best by a Notts batter. His 11 sixes have only been surpassed by three players – Graham Napier and Cameron Delport, both for Essex, and Chris Gayle for Somerset. Gayle might have possessed more awe, but surely none of them played with Clarke’s sweetness of touch. In this sort of form, very few do: he is the best England-qualified batter without an international cap in the country.He single-handedly took hold of Notts’ stuttering start to the Blast and guided it into winning territory at the third time of asking. Northants’ innings was the undercard, but they can feel good about getting within 14 runs.They retained slight hopes of chasing down Notts’ 214 for 7 with 87 needed off the last seven overs, and Josh Cobb on 55 from 24 balls, and going long at every opportunity, but then Cobb yanked a hamstring, the offspinner Matt Carter, who was excellent throughout, reasserted control, and from then on it was just a matter of how close they could get.It is worth reminding ourselves after Clarke’s gentle demolition of Northants’ attack that there is not one England batter who is but two. Alex Hales, he of the Johnny Ringo moustache, is the sharpshooter who will probably never escape those “Wanted: Alive or Dead” posters, and appeals for clemency are regularly lodged on his behalf. But Clarke, too, was once England’s golden child, only for his magical adventure to turn into the Golden Child, Eddie Murphy style, a mess of a film which ranks at 22% on Rotten Tomatoes.He does not make light of his mistakes, as he made clear in a revealing interview in ESPNcricinfo last year, and he saw a psychologist last summer to help him further understand that phase of his life and how to respond to it. More pertinent for his batting career, though, might have been a discussion with Peter Moores, Notts’ coach, who told him he was sort of a messed-up version of Marnus Labuschagne.By his own admission, he has missed out on a couple of Championship hundreds that were in the offing this summer, but If the ego of a talented youngster has finally given way to the substance that is found in true quality, then the runs may be about to flow. And England are not exactly drowning in that commodity, not in Test cricket at least. Forgiveness is given most readily to those who are most needed – that’s just the desperate way of the world.Cold statistics illustrate how much Clarke dominated Notts’ innings. His 136 came off 65 balls at a strike rate of 209. The rest of Notts’ batting line-up managed 67 off 57 at a strike rate of 117. Clarke hit 11 sixes; the rest mustered only two more. It was a supreme one-man show.From the second ball, it felt as if he meant business as the left-arm spinner Graeme White was treated to the gentlest of inside-out blows over extra cover, a shot played as if he was carrying out an MOT on his timing. Dropped on 29, he exacted mean punishment. White and the swing (non-existent on this occasion) of Ben Sanderson were most harshly dealt with, with Sanderson conceding three sixes in succession in the 16th over.The first of these blows left Sanderson with hands on hips, as he exchanged a few words of despair with the non-striker, Steven Mullaney. A shimmy across his stumps, followed by the laziest six over midwicket, left Sanderson with hands on knees. The next ball, with the bowler by then disorientated, was a full toss which was deposited over long-on. By then Sanderson didn’t know where to put his hands – or put the ball.Only the South African Wayne Parnell, the one bowler of international quality, escaped punishment – or sixes – and, suitably, he almost pulled off a return catch, on 125, although he was probably just grateful he escaped with his hand intact. He was also caught off Brandon Glover’s waist-high no-ball on 127, a second blemish which saw Glover removed from the attack. He fell in the last over, a nine iron down the ground against Tom Taylor.The rest of Notts’ much-vaunted batting line-up failed to fire, although Peter Trego, promoted up to No. 3 in the absence of Ben Duckett, who did not travel to Northampton as a Covid precaution, did share in an 82-run stand before he became one of a succession of batsman to slog to deep midwicket.Clarke marked his hundred with a beating of his chest – although he did not appear to follow up with some appropriate verses from St Luke about requesting God to be merciful because he was a sinner. It is time for England to be merciful though and to contact him to state, in the clearest terms, that runs are now all that matter.

His ban is related to the investigation into the corrupt approach to Graeme Cremer in October 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2019A former director of Zimbabwe Cricket, Enock Ikope, has been banned from all cricket for ten years by the ICC, for breaching three counts of the Anti-Corruption Code.Ikope’s ban is related to the Anti-Corruption Unit’s investigation into the corrupt approach made in October 2017 to former captain Graeme Cremer by Rajan Nayer, a domestic cricket official in Zimbabwe. The ACU had established information during the investigation, which gave them reasonable grounds to suspect Ikope may have engaged in corrupt conduct as described in the Code.Nayer, who was handed a 20-year ban from all cricket-related activities last year, had been the treasurer and marketing director of the Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association (HMCA). Ikope, the ICC said, was bound by the Code and was required to fully cooperate with the investigations in his capacity as chairman of the HMCA and director of ZC.Ikope was charged with:

• Failure or refusal to cooperate with the ACU’s investigation by failing to provide accurately and completely the information and/or documentation requested by the ACU in January 2018. This included refusing to hand over his mobile phone and documents demanded by the ACU.
• Obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code in January and February 2018. This included further failures and delays in handing over his mobile phone and documents demanded by the ACU, while the breach in February arose as a result of deletion of data from his mobile phone before handing it over to the ACU.

Ikope was banned by the Tribunal for five years in respect of each breach. The Tribunal ordered the first two of the five-year periods of ineligibility to run concurrently, with the penalty for the third breach of Article 2.4.7 to run consecutively, resulting in a total ban of 10 years.”We welcome this decision and the substantial sanction imposed on Mr Ikope which reflects the gravity of the offences,” Alex Marshall, the ICC General Manager ACU said. “Non-cooperation and obstruction of our investigations by participants to the Code are simply not acceptable and I hope this and other recent sanctions sends out a clear message to anyone involved in the sport.”Once again we must thank an international captain, Graeme Cremer, for his absolute professionalism in recognizing the initial approach by Mr Nayer, rejecting and then reporting it. We are thankful to him and to Zimbabwe Cricket for all the help during the investigations”.

The Australia spinner did not contest the charge and is believed to have contacted AB de Villiers to apologise for his conduct

Daniel Brettig in Durban05-Mar-2018Nathan Lyon has been fined 15% of his match fee by the ICC for dropping the ball near AB de Villiers after the South Africa batsman was run out on day four of the Durban Test.After the incident was reviewed by the match referee Jeff Crowe, Lyon was charged with conduct contrary to the spirit of cricket, a level one offence.He was found to have breached Article 2.1.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.In addition, Lyon has had one demerit point added to his disciplinary record, a first offence for the player since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016. If a player accrues four demerit points within 24 months, he receives a one-Test or two-limited-over game ban.Lyon is believed to have contacted de Villiers overnight to apologise. He had also accepted the charge and no hearing was required.The ICC decided, however, that no action would be taken following a confrontation between David Warner and Quinton de Kock during the tea break on day four.Adam Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper and captain, said the team would need to reassess how they reacted to such incidents.”As an outside observer, I think you would find that a little bit off-putting at times, a little bit bad taste at times,” Gilchrist told . “And the question may even come over all those eras as a general statement. Australian teams have generally been at the top of the pile, not every minute of those times, but generally they’re a very competitive, world class team,and some would say they don’t need to do that.”Why do you need to present that somewhat ugly look if you’re playing such good cricket? And they’re not good images and it’s hard to know, to comment specificially about this incident overnight, and any other time, unless you’re there and know the ins and outs of what was said and what sparked it and the verbal volleys that would have been thrown around.”Very hard to comment on the detail of it but no denying that some of the parts of the celebration of the run-out of de Villiers and then obviously this incident that I’m sure you’re getting to, of this leaked dressing room footage, it’s not a very good look. I think it needs to be considered how to react in certain scenarios and learn from the scenarios.”Speaking about Warner, Gilchrist said the Australian vice-captain was not projecting the image of a leader. “I think with Davey…there is no one denying his capabilities with the bat in hand. It’s funny…he came into cricket and had his natural aggression mindset both with bat in hand and in the field,” Gilchrist said. “He used to pride himself being the guy that got into the verbal stoushes and was a leader of the aggressive mindset. But he then went the other way and he was very, very outright in saying ‘I’ve put that away, that’s not me any more’.”It was really extreme the opposite way, and now he’s come back again saying ‘old Davey’s back’ and all his team-mates are saying ‘the Reverend’s gone, Bull’s back’. It’s always a worry in any situation when someone is so extreme on one direction or the other. I think Davey’s got to find somewhere in between that. He does pride himself in being a leader of the team, he did that very well in the T20s [against New Zealand and England recently] as captain but what we’ve seen in the last 24 hours probably isn’t the images that you want your captain projecting.”

Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, has promised that his team will receive another “stern talking-to”, after confirming that Jonny Bairstow was involved in an altercation with Australia’s opening batsman, Cameron Bancroft

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-20171:01

Bancroft incident is blown out of proportion – Bairstow

Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, has promised that his team will receive another “stern talking-to”, following the incident where Jonny Bairstow headbutted Australia’s opening batsman, Cameron Bancroft, on the first night of England’s Ashes tour.Speaking in the wake of England’s ten-wicket defeat in the first Test at Brisbane, Bayliss admitted his disappointment that another England player had become involved in an off-field issue so soon after Ben Stokes’ arrest in Bristol, but reiterated the team’s stance that there had been ‘no malice’ involved in the incident and that it had been ‘blown out of all proportion’.Bayliss confirmed that the incident had occurred on the first night of England’s tour back in October, when the team touched in Perth. There were no curfews imposed that night, and though Bairstow was one of the England players who received a fine for their part in the events leading up to the Bristol incident, Bayliss insisted that no disciplinary action was anticipated on this occasion.”It doesn’t reflect well on the image of the team, that’s for sure,” Bayliss told BBC’s Test Match Special. “It’s something we are working towards, but to say there’s a drinking culture and a big problem, that’s far off the mark.”These guys don’t drink any more or less than any cricket team I’ve ever been involved with or seen. And they are adults as well; a lot of it has got to stem back to them, how they react and hold themselves. When they are on the drink, or after the game, that’s up to them.”Speaking after the first Test had finished, England captain Joe Root said too much had been made of the situation. “The story over Jonny – I think a mountain’s been made out of a molehill as far as that’s concerned, we’ve just got to move on and concentrate on our cricket as a squad.”Bairstow addressed the media with a brief statement after play, not taking any questions. “Personally I think it’s been blown completely out of proportion. That night we were allowed out, there weren’t any curfews, and I caught up with one of my friends and some of the Western Australian guys after they’d beaten Tasmania at the WACA.”We were just in the bar having a good laugh, it was very enjoyable, Cameron and I enjoyed the evening and continued to do so. There was no intent, no malice about anything during the evening. As you could see today there was no animosity between myself, Cameron or any of the other Australian players. Hopefully we can wipe this under the table and continue what will be an exciting series.”The incident is understood to have picked up via the stump microphones when Bairstow came out to bat during the Brisbane Test, with Bancroft now a member of Australia’s Test team having been playing for Western Australia at the time.”It’s been the way of the world for the last number of years and that’s not going to change,” Bayliss said of the tendency for on-field comments to be overheard by the stump mics. “We’ve just got to make better decisions.”It was a chance for the Australian team to get stuck in and make people feel uncomfortable and that’s their prerogative,” he added. “That’s Ashes cricket and it’s what we’ve got to deal with, which is why these types of small instances we can’t put up with.”It’s disappointing that something like this comes up a few weeks after Bristol. Will be another stern talking to tonight. We’ve got to be very careful not to get ourselves in those situations.”

Will Gidman was left stranded on 99 not out but he and Matt Coles ensured Kent picked up the fifth batting bonus point they desperately wanted

David Hopps at Hove01-Sep-2016
ScorecardWill Gidman was left stranded on 99 not out (file photo)•PA Photos

This was a bonus point that mattered. There really are such things. Will Gidman knew it. It had been his sole objective for five hours. On the dressing room balcony, Kent’s players could think of little else. While some spectators gazed upon a Hove ground clad in sunshine, and indulged in the bittersweet regret of the first day of September, the professionals were doing sums. Essex were too far ahead at the top of Division Two already. Not a point could be wasted.A lap of the Hove ground on a gorgeous afternoon. Kent’s prospects of achieving 400 had looked meagre when they closed the first day at 211 for 5, 15 wickets lost in all, seam bowlers in command. But Gidman and Darren Stevens had batted through the morning unscathed and, although Stevens’ poles had gone walkabout to the first delivery with the second new ball from Steve Magoffin, Sussex’s angular metronome, Kent were 38 short with 10 overs left and seven down.From the darkest recesses of a dark bar, a barman with no view of the game waved to attract attention. Just hoping he might sell a lager. He would not see Matt Coles, a muscular smiter, nodding anxiously at Gidman and promising that Conscientious was his middle name.Only four runs added from two overs. Fielders repeatedly hit. On the balcony, Daniel Bell-Drummond fiddled with his sunglasses and looked unperturbed. The hotchpotch of stands were well populated. Kent had drawn the biggest Championship crowd of the season. They watched patiently, mixing cricket talk with family worries. “Good stop… Nell’s out of hospital.” An elderly man dropped his scorecard and winced slightly as he picked it up. A snatch of an REM song – “Will you live to 83, will you ever welcome me?” – briefly came to mind.

I should have had a whack – Gidman

Will Gidman: “It was a bit unfortunate not to get to a hundred. Mitch Claydon did his best and I should probably have had a whack earlier on to be honest, but I was pleased with the innings. It would have been nice to get over the line but it wasn’t to be.

Hove is a wonderful ground to watch square of the wicket even for those who prefer to sit behind the arm. There are beaches which shelve less fiercely than the rush of the ground towards the sea end. The tilt of the ground adds an extra dimension, especially when the pitch is near the edge of the square. A fast bowler dashing down the slope can be a terrifying prospect. Ajmal Shahzad is not terrifying but Gidman ignored his bouncer all the same with two men back. Coles stole a boundary off Ollie Robinson, a bowler with an air of breeding, but forced to do the hard yards uphill.A light plane passed overheard, glinting in cloudless skies, drowning the distant clamour of the gulls. Henry Hawk, a kite brought from Devon, to try to keep the seagulls at bay, swayed gently by the side of the south-west stand. The scorecard showed the balls gradually being whittled away. A man in the Players Club rose from his seat, in search of a coffee or a comfort break. Another suddenly grabbed his binoculars and looked on intently – the focus of his interest hard to know.Still 28 needed from six. Wickets now could scotch the plan. “Danny Briggs,” announced the Sussex scorer, Mike Charman, sitting in for the regular PA announcer with aplomb. Few spinners possess such gentle rhythms, but Briggs’ switch from Hampshire has been a challenging one. The pitches rarely turn, certainly not for Briggs, and the boundaries are short. His bowling in four-day cricket is the epitome of niceness, with all the negatives the word can convey. Coles missed a sweep and settled for a maiden. Briggs knew he was not going to settle for another one.From a marquee at the Sea End, Martin Corry, a former back row forward for Leicester and England, gathered pace in a speech for the Wooden Spoon charity. Kent sought to gather pace with him. Laughter burst from the marquee: the speech was going well. Gidman edged Shahzad at catchable height wide of first slip. Kent, 22 needed from four, were not quite as confident.In the Life Members stand above the media box, a man in a Joyce replica shirt fiddled with his shoelaces. Across the ground, spectators had set their deckchairs upright. It was here, about 25 years ago, where I had hoped to introduce myself to the ‘s football correspondent, David Lacey, only for him to doze, deckchair on the lowest setting, through the entire afternoon session with that morning’s paper on his lap.Briggs bowling to Coles might have been a mix-up of Olympic sports: the grace of a gymnast met by the primal threat of a wrestler. Coles finally opened his shoulders and heaved him to long-on, where he was caught to cheers – but only by a spectator 10 rows back. A four followed, slogged flatter this time.All this tension for a point. A point that might prove not to matter if Essex scoot the division by 40 points. Or which might prove to be priceless on the last afternoon of the season when the sides are locked at Canterbury and Kent are scenting a table-turning victory.Six from three overs; a woman in a flowery sunhat returned to her crossword, confident the job was as good as done. Gidman had the luxury of digging in and playing out a maiden. “Come on Briggsy,” Sussex exhorted, but Coles now looked twice the size. He reverse-swept the first ball for four and stole a single into the leg side off a glove. On 399, Briggs clamoured for lbw as another reverse from Gidman this time went awry, but the appeal was lost, the leg bye taken.”Come on Sussex, show some fight,” came a cry from the crowd. The game was lost; the pressure released, Kent’s lead would soon be rushing past 300. In the marquee, Corry’s speech done, the audience was laughing and applauding. Kent’s captain, Sam Northeast walked down the steps from the dressing room and hollered congratulations. Kent were now laughing and applauding, too.Gidman would be left stranded on 99 not out, missing his sixth first-class century in frustrating fashion, Magoffin claiming a five-for as Mitch Claydon drove a slower ball to mid-off. Sheepish apologies followed.For five-and-three-quarter hours, Gidman had steeled Kent’s ambitions. Few will gush over their evening meals about what they had witnessed, especially in Sussex. His wagon wheel suggested he struck only two off side boundaries, one of those the edge past slip, one authentic stroke against Robinson – but some insisted they had seen more, and anyway he had achieved his objective. September is upon us and Kent are not giving up without a fight.