KENT V SACA MATCH REPORT (14 – 16 April 2026)

RESULT: MATCH DRAWN

Having beaten Kent in a rain affected T20 clash on Monday, SACA faced the same opposition over the next three days, in a red-ball encounter at Polo Farm in Canterbury.

Kent skipper Olly Curtis won the toss and elected to bat, and it proved to be a tough morning for the SACA bowlers, as the Kent openers, Ben Dawkins and Will Harby, batted through the opening session of the game to take Kent to lunch on day one on 158 without loss, on 74* and 75* respectively.

The resumption of the afternoon session brought more of the same, as first Dawkins and then Harby brought up their hundreds, the former off 111 deliveries, the second off 116, as the SACA bowlers struggled to make any inroads.

The breakthrough eventually came however after 288 runs had been added for the opening wicket, when the spin of Aum Patel trapped Harby in front, with the opener departing for a fine 131 from 134 balls.

The old adage of ‘one brings two’ saw Patel strike again four overs later to get rid of Kent number three, Harry Finch for 6, with the Kent score on 304 for 2.

Dawkins meanwhile was ploughing on, and had gone past 200 before the next wicket fell, and it was Patel in the action again, grabbing his third of the innings, bowling Ekansh Singh for 50 – with Kent going in at tea soon after on 417 for 3.

Just five overs into the evening session Kent declared their first innings on 454 for 3 with Dawkins unbeaten on 222* from 212 balls.

Aum Patel and Daniyal Khan opened for SACA with 25 overs of the day’s play remaining, and the pair got off to a solid enough start, adding 47 for the first wicket before Khan was out lbw to 30, scored off 47 deliveries.

Patel and Savin Perera saw things through to the close, with SACA on 58 for 1, trailing by 396 runs, with Patel on 21* and Perera on 7*.

Day two began with a short delay for rain before Patel and Perera could resume their chase, and under leaden skies, batting conditions were in stark contrast to the previous day.

Eight overs into the day Matt Quinn struck to remove Patel, caught behind for a patient 26 from 90 balls, with Perera caught behind off Singh for 20 off 48 in the very next over with SACA on 86 for 3.

Feroze Khushi (18*) and Ismail Mohammed (4*) had taken the score to 100 for 3 when rain again forced the players off the field, with SACA trailing by 354 runs, with the umpires calling for lunch to be taken early.

A lengthy delay saw the restart delayed until 3.29pm, and soon after the resumption Mohammed was trapped in front by Quinn, out for 4, with SACA on 104 for 4.

34 runs were added by Khushi and SACA skipper Khan before the next wicket fell, with Khushi falling six short of his half-century, stumped for 44 off the bowling of Matt Parkinson.

Viv Hassen and Khan then added a meaningful sixth wicket partnership of 67 before Parkinson struck again, trapping Hassen in front for 32 with SACA on 205 for 6.

Khan then celebrated his first half-century of the season, bringing up the milestone off the 84^th ball he’d faced, before he and Zaman Shafi then safely navigated their way through to the close, with Khan ending the day unbeaten on 57*, Shafi on 18*, and the SACA score on 249 for 6, trailing by 205 runs.

With SACA declaring their first innings overnight, Kent’s batters took to the crease to start the final day, and the openers added 74 for the first wicket before Eshun Kalley picked up the wicket of Ollie Morgan, out, caught behind for 28.

Kalley struck again two overs later to dismiss Tejpal Birdi for 9, trapping the Kent number three in front with the score on 98 for 2.

First innings double-centurion Ben Dawkins proved a thorn in the side again and had added 70 before becoming Kalley’s third victim of the morning, caught behind for 70, before Kent pushed the score along to 144 for 3 at lunch, with a 349 run lead on the board.

Kent batted on after lunch, and Olly Curtis and Ekansh Singh had put on 91 for the fourth wicket before Aum Patel struck twice – first bowling Singh for 28 and then trapping Corey Flintoff in front for 4, to reduce Kent to 220 for 5, with a lead of 425 runs already on the board.

The declaration came soon after, on 243 for 5, with a lead of 448 runs on the board.

With 51 overs play remaining in the day, SACA opened with Hisham Khan and Daniyal Khan, however inside the first seven overs of the innings, both batters had departed, with the former bowled by Cohen for a duck and the latter caught for 16 off Quinn, with SACA going in at tea on 22 for 2.

A partnership was needed in the final session, and Savin Perera and Feroze Khushi found it, with Perera bringing up his first half-century of the season, off 65 balls, before Khushi followed suit, bringing his up off 74 balls.

Their partnership continued through the final session, with both batters celebrating their first hundreds of the season, Khushi reaching the milestone first, off 117 deliveries, with Perera bringing his up off the next ball, reaching three figures off 129 balls.

Their unbroken partnership of 215 had taken the SACA score to 235 for 2, and with no result possible and time running out, hands were shaken with the game ending in a draw.

SACA HIGHLIGHTS FROM KENT THREE-DAY MATCH…

Batting:                                                              Bowling:

Savin Perera                  102* (129)                      Eshun Kalley                  9-1-41-3

Feroze Khushi               100* (117)                      Aum Patel                       15-1-99-3

Hisham Khan                57* (88)                         Aum Patel                       4-0-15-2           

Feroze Khushi               44 (59)