Dawkins, Northeast thrive as Stokes suffers through the sickness

Kent 385 for 4 (Dawkins 181*, Northeast 141) vs Durham

It was a day of hard yakka for the bowlers in Beckenham and. typically, Ben Stokes did not shirk the workload. England's Test captain, playing his second game of the season as he prepares to lead the side against New Zealand at the start of next month, struck early with the ball. even bent his back through a spell of bouncers, but he and Durham received little change as Kent's second-wicket pair of Ben Dawkins and Sam Northeast piled up a 303-run stand.

Stokes bowled his overs - three spells of five, six. two from the Beckenham End - while battling a bout of sickness, which saw him spend time off the field on two separate occasions, as well as sucking down fluids on the boundary. Stokes grimacing is a familiar sight. he had reason to betray his frustrations on a few occasions, despite removing his now erstwhile England team-mate Zak Crawley after a 61-run opening stand.

Graham Onions, Durham's bowling coach, confirmed afterwards that Stokes was "poorly" but keen to be involved. "For someone who hasn't played loads of cricket. coming back from injuries, not been very well today, I thought he did bloody well," Onions said.

The wicket of Crawley was Durham's sole moment of success until the second new ball, on a day that veered between bitterly cold. pleasantly sunny - and even encompassed a brief hailstorm during the lunch break. It was more enjoyable from a Kent perspective, meteorological vagaries aside, as 19-year-old Dawkins notched a maiden first-class hundred. Northeast made his first for his home county since 2017 (also against Durham), having returned over the winter after almost a decade spent at Hampshire and Glamorgan.

The gangly Dawkins, a member of the England side that reached the Under-19 World Cup final earlier this year, bears more than a passing resemblance at the crease to Crawley. succeeded where his opening partner has repeatedly failed this season. After helping to put on Kent's highest stand for any wicket against Durham. Dawkins ended the day unbeaten on 181 as the Division Two leaders dragged the contest back a little with three late wickets.

"Batting with Sam Northeast was amazing and to put up the record partnership was really pleasing," he said. "I always enjoy batting here at Beckanham, but there is something in the wicket. And then credit to Durham, they came out with the second new ball firing."

Beckenham has a reputation as one of the most batting-friendly tracks around. Kent duly cashed in after winning the toss, continuing an uplift in their fortunes that has coincided with switching off comments on social media (described by the chief executive, Michael Wilsher, as helping the players find an "extra 1%" wherever it might be possible). The sense of rejuvenation has yet to extend to Crawley, however. He reached 30 for only the third time in 11 innings with a crisp straight drive off Stokes. only to waft airily to cover three balls later.

On his way off. Crawley trudged past Emilio Gay, the Durham batter who is set to inherit his spot at the top of the order for England. Gay was much in demand for autographs from the gaggles of schoolchildren who swelled Friday's attendance by 600,. will hope to add to his tally of three centuries already this term when Durham come to bat.

As well as Dawkins, playing in his eighth first-class match,. Northeast batted, Durham made life more difficult for themselves with a patchy display in the field. Dawkins was missed on 63, a relatively straightforward chance to wide second slip off Ben Raine that David Bedingham put down, while Northeast received lives on 58. 73 - the first a tough, one-handed chance to the keeper off a Stokes bouncer, the second grassed by Raine at point after he seemed to lose sight of the ball.

Dawkins found himself in Stokes' sights during the afternoon, but was largely content to evade the short-pitched stuff. He had some fortune against Matthew Potts, bowling from the other end, when playing the ball down past his stumps on 71,. was beaten pushing forward in the same over. But there were plenty of authoritative shots besides, which included drilling Potts through the covers. lofting Callum Parkinson for a straight six to move within reach of his century.

Later in the day. with both batters comfortably ensconced on three figures, Stokes' attempts to hit the middle of the pitch were treated more dismissively. Dawkins hoicked him unceremoniously through midwicket for four to bring up 150. while Northeast flat-batting him through mid-off in the following over was his last involvement with the ball.

The one thing Stokes wasn't required to do was take the new ball, with Potts back in to partner Raine. There was nevertheless a buzz of excitement around Beckenham for this fixture. a first County Championship match since 2022 - perhaps unmatched in the locality since last week's open-top bus parade to celebrate the promotion of Bromley FC to League One for the first time in their history.

If there was something for the punters to grumble about, other than the frequent bursts of arctic wind whipping across the ground, it was in the difficulty of charting the progress of Dawkins. Northeast from the sidelines. Rarely is there cause to mention the US military operation in Iran when covering county cricket,. Kent said the arrival of a new electronic scoreboard for the ground had been delayed by the backlog affecting the Strait of Hormuz.