A near perfect bowling and batting display by Kent leaves them well placed at Canterbury against Leicestershire after just one day.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first in the bright sunshine at the St Lawrence Ground, but were soon skittled for just 141 and by the close, Kent were in a great position at 104 for 2, trailing by just 37 runs.

Five wickets by Matt Coles was the highlight of the first two sessions with Charlie Shreck setting the home side on their way with the first three wickets of the day.

Darren Stevens was to take the other two wickets to fall, whilst Geraint Jones had a great day behind the stumps picking up five catches.

When it came to Kent’s turn to bat, they didn’t get off to the best of starts with Sam Northeast falling to Matthew Hoggard for a golden duck.

Hoggard was to pick up the wicket of Ben Harmison for thirty as he played on, but solid batting from skipper Rob Key (23 not out) and Brendan Nash (50 not out), saw Kent through to a strong position by the close.

Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

Kent side: Rob Key, Sam Northeast, Ben Harmison, Brendan Nash, Mike Powell, Darren Stevens, Geraint Jones, James Tredwell, Matt Coles, Mark Davies, Charlie Shreck.

Leics side: Will Jefferson, Greg Smith, Jacques Du Toit, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Josh Cobb, Preston Mommsen, Wayne White, Ned Eckersley, Claude Henderson, Nathan Buck, Matthew Hoggard.

Umpires: Ismail Dawood & Trevor Jesty.

Close of play day one: Leicestershire 141 all out, Kent 104 for 2.

Pictures by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures, visit www.sarahcanterbury.com