Kent’s new opening partners Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tom Latham batted their side to a 10-wicket victory over Glamorgan and re-wrote their county’s record book in the process

ECB Reporters Network04-May-2016
ScorecardDaniel Bell-Drummond quickly settled in with his new opening partner•Getty ImagesKent’s new opening partners Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tom Latham batted their side to a 10-wicket victory over Glamorgan and re-wrote their county’s record book in the process.In pursuit of 187 for victory the hosts cantered home an hour after lunch to post their maximum points win. It was Kent’s third 10-wicket triumph over Glamorgan in Championship history and their first since Sophia Gardens in 2005.Batting together for the first time in this Specsavers County Championship Division Two match Bell-Drummond and Latham followed their first innings opening stand of 131 with another convincing display.”It is nice to come away with a 10-wicket win but I think the way we started with the ball on day one set the tone for the whole match,” Latham said. “We stuck at our guns pretty well in the field too. Then, it was down to me and Daniel forming a partnership today that saw us through. It was very pleasing. It’s pretty good so far, I’m one from one and credit goes to our bowlers for managing to bowl them out twice.”They are Kent’s first opening partners to post century first-wicket stands in each innings of a championship match since Arthur Phebey and Arthur Fagg recorded 107 and 132 against Gloucestershire in Gloucester in 1954. It is only the third instance in Championship history that Kent have posted two separate hundred first-wicket stands.Amazingly the sides shook hands on the result and started walking off with Kent on 186 without loss and with the scores tied. But once made aware of the error by scorers Andrew Hignell and Lorne Hart, umpires Nick Cook and Rob Bailey replanted the stumps and called play. Bell-Drummond duly steered Harry Podmore’s next ball to the ropes at third man and the celebrations could start for real as Kent reached 190 without loss.Bell-Drummond, fresh from 84 in the first innings, finished unbeaten with 86. While Latham, on debut, hit 53 in his first innings and was unbeaten on 79 at the end. The New Zealand left-hander became the first Kent batsman to pass 50 in both innings of his Championship debut.”It’s clear already that Danny and compliment each other nicely,” Latham said. “We set ourselves small targets, five runs here, five runs there and by the end the runs were flowing. Hopefully we can continue on like this for the rest of the season.”