Grant Stewart rips through Northants to give Kent the upper hand

Kent reduced Northamptonshire to 89 for seven on a rain-affected first day in the LV= Insurance County Championship at Canterbury.

Grant Stewart took three for six and Michael Hogan two for 36 as the Spitfires exploited damp and dark conditions to leave the visitors deep in the mire at the end of a truncated evening session.

Ricardo Vasconcelos was Northamptonshire's top scorer with 39, but he fell in the only over bowled after tea before play was abandoned due to bad light.

Heavy overnight rain at the St. Lawrence wiped out the morning session, but the home side were clearly the happier after winning the toss and rattling through Northamptonshire's top order during the 26 overs that were possible.

When play finally got underway at 2.15pm the visitors initially scored rapidly. Vasconcelos drove the first ball of the day, from Matt Quinn, for four and they cantered to 26 without loss, until Hogan trapped Hassan Azad lbw for seven in the sixth over.

In the next over Quinn sent Sam Whiteman's middle stump flying for just a single and both first-change bowlers then took wickets with their first deliveries.

Joey Evison struck with the first ball of the 12th over, getting Luke Procter caught by Ben Compton at square leg for eight and Stewart then had Rob Keogh caught behind for three at the start of the 16th.

Stewart subsequently took a superb return catch to dismiss Josh Cobb for seven, clinging onto a violent drive at ankle height, before he had Lewis McManus caught behind for five.

Tea was originally scheduled for 4.10pm but with light deteriorating the session was curtailed three minutes early.

Vasconcelos fell lbw to Hogan to the fourth ball after an extended interval, leaving James Sales and Gareth Berg as the out batters on five and three respectively when play was abandoned for the day.