Kent secure promotion with victory over Gloucestershire

Kent have been promoted to Division One of the Rothesay County Championship after an eight-win over Gloucestershire at Canterbury.

Matt Milnes took 5 for 33 as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 241. Kamran Dhariwal was their top scorer with a battling 66, but by the time Kent started the chase they already knew they had been promoted, after learning their only rivals, Northamptonshire, had lost to Middlesex at Lord's.

Sam Northeast then hit an unbeaten 49 and England's Zak Crawley made 44 as Kent cruised home, finishing on 120 for 2.

Kent went into day three knowing victory would guarantee second place, but Tom Boorman was dropped in the first over, after he'd edged Khaled Ahmed: keeper Chris Benjamin left it for first slip Crawley, who seemed surprised and missed the chance. However, both overnight batters went in the space of seven balls. Miles Hammond edged Khaled to Tawanda Muyeye for 42, before Boorman nicked Milnes behind.

Dhariwal and Daaryoush Ahmed batted Gloucestershire into the lead and Daaryoush was probably unlucky to be lbw to 34 to Khaled off what looked like an inside edge, but there was no arguing about James Bracey's dismissal: batting with a runner, he spooned Milnes to Keith Dudgeon at mid-on and it was 150 for 6 at lunch.

R Sai Kishore was Milnes' fifth victim when he was caught by Muyeye at first and Muyeye then took his 27th Championship catch of the season, when Che Simmons edged Dudgeon.

With Gloucestershire eight down, the news filtered through that Northamptonshire had lost to Middlesex and a wave of applause swept round the ground. Any tension melted away, although Matt Taylor made a useful 34 to at least give the visitors something to defend. Dhariwal finally fell to Muyeye, swishing him to Northeast at mid-off, and the innings ended when Taylor drove Ekansh Singh to skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond, setting a target of 117.

Crawley cracked the first ball of the chase for four, from JT Langridge, and two balls later he was dropped by Ollie Price at second. Langridge did get Ben Compton lbw for 4 and Crawley's livewire innings continued when he reverse-swept Kishore for four, only to slog-sweep the next ball vertically. He walked off before Hammond had even taken the catch, but he'd broken the back of the chase.

With the target down to 12, Northeast hit Price for six over cow corner, before hitting the next two balls for four, to crown promotion and seal Kent's eighth win of the season.