Northamptonshire 384 (Duckett 208, Wakely 73) and 31 for 0 beat Kent 230 (Dickson 63, Coles 52, Gidman 51) and 184 (Viljoen 63, Kleinveldt 5-53) by ten wicketsScorecard Around 3am this morning, Sam Billings checked into Kents team hotel in Bromley. He had just completed the long drive down from Old Trafford, where he had been 12th man during Englands T20 defeat against Pakistan, and not released until after the game had been completed.After five hours sleep, Billings arrived at Beckenham to prepare himself for the third day of Kents Championship match with Northamptonshire. He netted for several hours, readjusting to the red ball after training for several days against the white ball - in vain as it turned out.At 10.55 this morning, Billings walked out to the crease after the dismissal of Sam Northeast, Kents batting totem all season. Kent were 22 for 5 and still trailed by 132 runs. They had to clear that deficit, and add another 200 runs or so, if they were to have a chance of gaining the victory their season depended on. It was time for a returning hero.Initially, Billings did not seem like one. He edged his very first ball, from the relentlessly probing Ben Sanderson, through the slips, and a couple of other boundaries followed from edges. Yet there were glimpses - a cut off Sanderson, an extra-cover drive off Azharullah - that Billings late night drive would be vindicated, and he would be the hero Kent needed.In the last over before lunch, Billings shaped to drive, and then pulled his bat away: as if he had thought he was playing a T20, only to remind himself at the last split-second that this was a first-class game. The indecision proved fatal: Billings did not lift his bat up in time, and the ball took an inside edge to uproot his off stump. As he trudged off, the fate of this game went with him. His efforts had been to no avail.Kent could certainly feel aggrieved. By reducing Division One to eight teams from next year, and allowing only one team to win promotion this season, the ECB had already hampered their chances of returning to the top tier for the first time since 2010, before plucking their best young batsman away from such a crucial fixture.Given that there are those who think that Billings could one day play in Test cricket too, it is debatable whether he learned as much from training with the England squad for two days than he would have done from playing a full part in the most important Championship game yet in Kents season.A few hours later, Kent had to accept that a seasons worth of fine Championship cricket would not be enough to secure promotion. A fourth successive victory would have kept up the pressure on Essex, ahead of what could have been a winner-takes-all showdown at Canterbury next week. But instead this three-day defeat effectively scuppered them. Five points from their game in hand, against Glamorgan on Monday, will put Essex out of reach come what may.Northants, meanwhile, could celebrate their win with a raucous sing-song. They had not merely beaten the second-placed side in Division Two; they had thumped them. If their first-innings total of 384 was underpinned by a brilliant double hundred from Ben Duckett, well-supported by Alex Wakely, then they showed the depth of their bowling stocks to take Kents 20 wickets for a cost of just 414 in the match.Rory Kleinveldt bowled superbly all match, swinging the ball late to claim eight wickets, but he had a coterie of fine support acts. Steven Crook took four wickets in the match, including the critical blows of Hardus Viljoen, driving once too often after a 63 that had been laced with powerful shots down the ground, and Billings in consecutive overs before lunch. Sanderson was remorseless in his line and length. And Rob Keogh, who will surely never replicate his nine-wicket haul last week, again suggested that he can be more than a serviceable offspinner.Northants sense of optimism is palpable. A year that has brought a second T20 Blast victory in four seasons, and a quarter-final spot in the Royal London One-Day Cup, has now yielded consecutive Championship victories. This was, in Wakelys belief, a complete performance. While the upturn in Northants Championship form has come far too late for a tilt at promotion, he reckoned that was no bad thing. Promotion would have been too early for us, with where we are as a squad, he said.David Ripley, the head coach, left Beckenham early to return to Wantage Road. Tonight the ground will host an Extraordinary General Meeting, where members will be asked to vote to cede control of the club to a limited company, NCCC Holdings, to generate more investment. Wakely is among those who supports the move, believing that it will enable Northants to replicate the success of Northampton Saints, who became an incorporated company in 2000 and have been able to invest more in their squad and sporting facilities since.While Northants went nowhere after winning the T20 Blast in 2013, Wakely is convinced that this time can be different.And the most obvious reason of all for optimism lies in Ben Duckett who, rather inevitably, scored the winning run: he is on the brink of signing a new contract. Wakely reckons that he can be as good as AB de Villiers, and urged England to take him to Bangladesh. He needs to be fast-tracked into the England team, as Joe Root was, he said. Who knows how good he can be? Ronde Barber Jersey . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. 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Thanks the plans of general manager Reggie McKenzie and coach Jack Del Rio, and a young core led by Derek Carr, Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper.Fresh off a victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, Oakland went into the bye week alone in first place in the AFC West.Were not close to where we want to be and where we need to be, Carr said. Are we doing really good things? Absolutely. We are doing really good things, but theres so much more out there for us. I dont ever want us to get complacent. As long as Im throwing the ball here, Im not going to let guys get complacent.But its amazing how far they have come since starting the 2014 season with 10 straight losses. Oakland won seven games a year ago in the first year under Del Rio before taking another big step so far this season, led by Carrs strong play.Despite being passed over until the second round in the 2014 draft, Carr has emerged as one of the NFLs top young quarterbacks. He has thrown for 2,505 yards this season with 17 touchdowns, only three interceptions and a 99.1 passer rating to put all those losses from 2014 in the rear-view mirror.Theres a lot of character that goes into where were at today, Carr said. Not just myself, but Im saying the whole team. It was tough to come in 0-10. It was tough to come in 0-8, 0-9 and keep doing it. We kept our heads down, and we knew that there was an end goal in mind. Obviously, were not there yet, so we have a long way to go.The decline began after that Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay following the 2002 season. Late owner Al Davis spent the final years of his life trying to make big splashes in trades and free agency in hopes of making one more Super Bowl run. He also picked busts in the draft such as JaMarcus Ruussell, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Rolando McClain.ddddddddddddMcKenzie took over following Davis death in 2011 and spent his first two seasons tearing down a team overwhelmed by salary cap woes and a lack of talent. The rebuild truly started in 2014 when he drafted Mack and Carr with his first two picks and signed Donald Penn to anchor the offensive line.Two more productive offseasons that included the hiring of Del Rio and addition of big-play receivers Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, offensive linemen Kelechi Osemele and Rodney Hudson and key defenders Bruce Irvin, David Amerson Sean Smith and Reggie Nelson set the stage for this seasons success.We talk about winning ballgames because that is what it is, Mack said. That is how you change the culture, by winning. Doing all the things it takes to win, and that is the preparation.The Raiders faced some doubters early this season despite their fast start because most of the wins came against lesser opponents, and the defense struggled to stop anyone. They needed late comebacks to beat New Orleans, Baltimore and Tampa Bay, and held off late rallies from San Diego and Tennessee.But the defense has improved in recent weeks, the offensive line has dominated the trenches, and the thorough win over the Broncos on a prime-time stage helped Oakland gained much more respect.The final seven games will feature more tough tests, starting with a Monday night game in Mexico City against Houston on Nov. 21. Oakland still must go on the road to face all three division rivals over the final four weeks, and th