Nottinghamshire took a hefty stride towards safety in Division One of the Vitality County Championship by reaching 393 for six at stumps after a dominant first day against Kent at Canterbury.

Openers Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed demoralised the division’s basement side with a stand of 196 for the first wicket: Slater made 160 from 217 balls, with 22 fours, while Hameed made a more pedestrian 56 from 142.

Jack Haynes then inflicted further punishment with 62 and Nottinghamshire, who began the day in eighth, were aided by a total of 37 extras, 30 of which came from no balls.

Games at the Spitfire Ground have followed a pattern for Kent fans so far this season: a slow erosion of hope during the first innings before despair sets in during the second; there’s admirable but futile resistance in the third and then defeat in the fourth, if it goes that far.

Last week’s trend-bucking draw with Hampshire at least allowed members a micro-measure of optimism going into this “48-pointer”, but even that had gone within the first half hour.

In a pivotal game for both sides’ chances of staying in the division, Kent chose to bowl, only for Notts to race to 50 in just 53 balls.

Kent handed a home debut to Akeem Jordan, but his first three overs went for 36 and he was replaced at the Pavilion End by Nathan Gilchrist.

Slater was on 41 when he slashed at George Garrett, only for Jack Leaning to drop him at second slip and his 50 came after a misfield from Jordan. It was 134 for zero at lunch, and the afternoon was only slightly less lopsided.

Slater cracked Gilchrist through point for four to reach three figures and Hameed steered Jordan through third man to bring up his 50, before their stand was finally ended when Joey Evison bowled the latter.

Freddie McCann then walked after he edged Gilchrist to Leaning for eight, although replays suggested it may not have carried and Joe Clarke went for 18 when he pulled George Garrett to Gilchrist at deep fine leg, leaving Notts on 271 for three at tea.

Jack Leaning had Slater caught at first slip by Tawanda Muyeye but Haynes and Lyndon James responded with a partnership of 60 before Haynes was caught off a bottom edge by Muyeye off Gilchrist.

James then fell to Jordan for 34 in the penultimate over, given out caught by Muyeye after a lengthy consultation by the umpires, leaving Luke Fletcher and Dane Schadendorf to bat through to stumps on 10 and eight respectively.

Notts’ Ben Slater said: “I thought I played well and I got a life when I was on 40-odd but sometimes you need them, especially when the ball’s doing a bit, as it was out there. I tried to take advantage of every ball that was sent down and it’s always nice when you get a hundred because it doesn’t happen every day, so yeah I’m pleased with that one, with how I played and how I struck the ball.

“It’s never planned, there’s never anything talked about like that. I think they were bowling a little bit better at him (Hameed) and they bowled a bit wide at me so I tried to take advantage of that where I looked to score anyway and it sort of played into my hands a bit with how they bowled.

“They bowled well at Has and there were some good balls flying around all day there really, so yeah, we’ll be pleased to get close to 400 and try to take advantage of that pitch tomorrow.

“We’ve opened the batting for a number of years now together, so we know each other’s game pretty well. It’s always nice and relaxed with Has, he’s in his own little bubble and we just go and try and score runs really. There’s no magic formula, we’ve had a couple of big partnerships over the years but it’s always enjoyable, especially when you’re in a partnership of that magnitude.

(On Haynes) “We get on well, so it’s never really too serious out there, it’s a bit light-hearted at times and there are a few jokes just to keep everything relaxed. He obviously played well there and got 60 crucial runs to get us up to 400. Hopefully we can kick on in the morning.”

Kent’s Mark Dekker said: “It’s something we spoke about in the changing room at lunchtime, it’s like Groundhog Day and the bowlers were the first to take it on board. None of them were happy with the way they went about their business and they clamped us pretty hard in the first two hours.

“We had to fight and claw our way back in the last two sessions but I think the moment you concede that many runs in the first session, I think the rest of the day is a bit of a claw back day. Which, to their credit, we managed to get those six wickets.

“Had we got one more, seven wickets in the day, anyone would take that but the run rate’s a little bit high, especially in that first session so it knocked us hard and no one in the changing room is sitting there making excuses.

“We’re pretty sombre about it at the moment, we could and should have been better in those first two hours.

“George Garrett bowled beautifully for those first five, six overs, with a low run rate and he offered threat, but when you’re hurting from the other end, that inability to maintain pressure and break that partnership becomes a really difficult task when the bowling unit isn’t functioning together.

“So you can have those moments of excellence individually but they don’t put the pressure on the opposition batters you need that collective effort and will. I’ve always maintained that a bowling unit is only as effective as its weakest link and if one of the links is not firing you go for runs and it hurts your game.

“We’ve got to play to win the game so it’s about putting the first two hours where they belong. It’s in the past, we acknowledge that it wasn’t good enough but don’t let it upset what the remaining three days has for us.

“Get the wickets early tomorrow, go about our business of batting with purpose and play with a purpose to win. The last thing we can be think and sitting and saying is dwelling on two hours of poor cricket in the first session.

“We’ve got three days of cricket left, we play to the best of our ability, we play with the purpose to win and play with the mindset to win. That’s what’s demanded of us no matter where we are in the table. We need to win this game and the next game, that’s the mindset of the guys. We’re not going to play for the draw, so how do we go about winning?”