AN astonishing onslaught from veteran Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens turned the match against Glamorgan on its head as he smashed a remarkable 190.
He hit 15 fours and 15 sixes to take Kent from 128-8 to 307 all out at wind-battered Canterbury.
Miguel Cummins contributed a single to their ninth-wicket stand of 166.
Glamorgan struggled to 55-2 as Stevens continued his dominance of the day by removing Marnus Labuschagne for 11 runs.
Stevens’ performance with the bat looked at first like a few defiant late blows after pacemen Michael Neser and Timm van der Gugten ripped through the Kent batting with four wickets apiece, with captain Sam Billings falling for 11 to a borderline lbw decision on his return from the Indian Premier League.
But once he got his eye in, Stevens cleared the ropes seemingly at will around the ground from fine-leg to extra-cover, to delight the shivering home supporters in bleak conditions.
It was a superb performance in any context, let alone one in which most of his team-mates struggled to contribute anything significant.
He was dropped at slip on 67 and twice on the boundary edge in the 130s as he toyed with the Glamorgan bowling, Cummins left to play just a ball or two in each over.
Stevens established a new world record for domination of a first-class partnership of more than 100.
Labuschagne, with his eccentric leg-spin, eventually had Stevens caught at long-on and bowled Cummins for 7, but the momentum gained by the Stevens spectacular carried on when the visitors went in to bat. After David Lloyd fell cheaply to Matt Quinn, Stevens quickly turned the tables on the Australian Test star to dismiss him lbw for 11 for the second time this season, Labuschagne looking as frustrated with the decision as Billings had before him.
Joe Cooke and Billy Root dug in to survive to the close with bad light finally coming to the visitors’ rescue.(BBC Sport)