Kent 352 and 335 (Benjamin 123, Evison 88, Haydon 5-81) beat Derbyshire 304 and 158 (Milnes 6-12) by 225 runs
Matt Milnes bowled Kent to their first Rothesay County Championship win in over a year, as they routed Derbyshire by 225 runs at Canterbury.
Milnes took career-best figures of 6 for 12 as Kent blew the visitors away for just 158 in their second innings, wrapping up the win with 54 overs remaining. Luis Reece was Derbyshire's top scorer with 67 but he lacked any real support and the game was over at 2.44 pm, when he holed out off Ekansh Singh and was caught by Chris Benjamin.
A crowd of over 600 took advantage of free entry on the final day, but as on day three, when Derbyshire took two wickets in the first over, any late-comers would have missed an explosive start.
Derbyshire began day four on 19 for 1 and they lost Harry Came, for 18, to the fifth ball of the morning when he edged Keith Dudgeon to Ben Dawkins at gully. At the start of the next over Milnes got Matthew Montgomery for a duck, caught by Tawanda Muyeye at second slip . The same combination got rid of Wayne Madsen for 4 and, in a piece of inspired captaincy, Daniel Bell-Drummond introduced Joey Evison after just six overs - he sent Martin Andersson's off stump flying with his sixth ball, bowling him for 15. Milnes then bowled Brooke Guest for a duck, clipping he top of off and although Zak Chappell made 20, he got a jaffa from Jas Singh that kept low and sent his off stump cartwheeling.
The visitors were 103 for 7 at lunch and lost Ben Aitchison in the second over after the resumption, caught behind off Milnes, who then had Rory Haydon lbw for 1 in his next over.
Reece, at least, was able to enjoy himself, racking up his second 50 of the match when he clipped Jas Singh for four after a misfield by Ekansh Singh. He then had a let off on 53, when he skied Ekansh Singh and the ball went through Sam Northeast's hands, hitting him on the chest. Reece then pulled Jas Singh for a huge six over square leg, but his luck ran out when he again skied Ekansh Singh, and this time Benjamin hauled in the catch.
Milnes' previous career-best figures were 6 for 53 against Leicestershire at this venue in 2021 and this was Kent's first win in the County Championship since they beat Middlesex in April 2025.
