Essex were left settling for a draw from their labours against Kent after rain ruined the final day of their Championship clash at Chelmsford.

Only 56 overs were possible during which the visitors added a further 138 to their overnight total to finish 283 runs ahead on 416-8 declared.

During that time Mark Ealham collected only his seventh first-class century of a career which began in 1989.

But immediately afterwards he was caught on the third man boundary by Scott Brant to provide Graham Napier with his third wicket of the innings.

Ealham's 101 contained 15 fours and he shared in a partnership of exactly 100 with Geraint Jones, who followed up his first innings 84 with his second century of the summer.

Jones reached it with the help of 13 boundaries and he added one more while finishing unbeaten with 108.

Occasional bowlers Andy Flower and Aftab Habib picked up the other two wickets to fall, with Habib's removal of Mohammad Sami enabling him to celebrate his first success at this level.

"The rain ruined what had been a superb game of cricket over the opening three days," said Kent captain David Fulton.

"We were hoping to leave Essex a target of around 270 to 280 in 60 overs but the weather soon put paid to that.

"It delayed the start by 90 minutes and the best we could hope for after that was a draw."

Published Tuesday, July 1, 2003

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