Kent’s lurch towards Vitality Championship relegation continued as they were bowled out for 156 by Warwickshire on the opening day of their Division One relegation battle at Edgbaston.
Having collected just nine batting points from ten games, Kent were skittled in just 39.5 overs by the seamers before the home side eased past them to reach 207 for three at the close.
Michael Booth (three for 13), Olly Hannon-Dalby (three for 31) and Chris Rushworth (three for 43) dismantled a Kent batting order in which only Ben Compton (70, 103 balls) and Joey Evison (28, 44) reached double figures. If Compton had not been badly dropped on one, Kent’s implosion would have been complete.
Warwickshire completed their excellent day by moving 51 ahead with seven wickets intact, Will Rhodes compiling a measured unbeaten 82 (134 balls) to build a perfect platform for a belated first championship win of the season.
Warwickshire chose to wield the Kookaburra ball first and took just four balls to strike with it. Tawanda Muyeye, fresh from 211 against Worcestershire at Canterbury last week, sliced the first ball from Hannon-Dalby to the third man boundary and edged the fourth, a perfectly-pitched outswinger, to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess.
Muyeye copped an unplayable delivery, but Daniel Bell-Drummond was culpable five overs later when he edged a footwork-free waft at Rushworth to third slip. When Jack Leaning edged Hannon-Dalby to first slip, Kent were in distress at 44 for three. They would have been in total disarray if Compton had not been reprieved by Rhodes at fourth slip off Rushworth.
Compton and Evison added 57 in 13 overs before the vestige of resistance was torpedoed by a collapse just before lunch. Evison (29, 49) edged Ed Barnard to Burgess and Booth took three wickets in 11 balls to gallop to career-best figures. Harry Finch and Charlie Stobo edged to Burgess and Grant Stewart miscued to point.
Compton reached a defiant half-century from 74 balls but lost an eighth partner when Matt Parkinson edged Rushworth behind and a ninth when Alfie Ogborne sliced Hannon-Dalby low to second slip. Compton was within sight of carrying his bat when he pulled Hannon-Dalby to square leg to supply the bowler with his 500th wicket in all formats for Warwickshire.
If Kent looked devoid of confidence with the bat, they did so equally with the ball as Warwickshire openers Rob Yates (40, 53) and Alex Davies (37, 35) added 62 in 11 overs. Somerset loanee Ogborne trapped Davies lbw and Yates edged former Bears team-mate George Garrett behind but Rhodes and Hain, with tons of time and the weather forecast excellent for the duration of this match, added a sedate 94 in 30 overs. Hain played on to the impressively persevering Ogborne but Rhodes is within 18 runs of his 11th first class century.
For Kent, this miserable season can’t end soon enough. Warwickshire are charging towards a win that will pretty much ensure they don’t join the south-eastern county through the trapdoor to Division Two next month.
Warwickshire bowler Olly Hannon-Dalby said: “We are really happy to have bowled Kent out for 150-ish. A lot has been made about the Kookaburra ball but there is actually quite a lot of swing early on with the Kookaburra and we saw that this morning. The swing tends to dissipate quite quickly with the Kookaburra, a bit like with the white ball, so it was nice that it swung early on and we managed to nick a few out.
“Then Michael Booth took three quick wickets. He is a very promising young bowler who bowls with great pace and has a good work ethic so for him to get a career-best and sort of turn the game was great.
“Then our batters did a really good job. Yatesy and Davo gave us a great start and then Rhodesy batted brilliantly and really patiently. Hopefully we can pile on the runs tomorrow and get a nice big lead.”. .
Kent batter Ben Compton said: “The scoreboard reflects the day quite accurately. We found ourselves in trouble early and lost wickets regularly.
“Credit to them, they put the ball in the right place. Kookaburra ball or not, if you do that you can get an edge or take wickets.
“It’s always nice to contribute to the team and I really enjoyed getting stuck in and trying to get us to some sort of a total when our backs were against the wall.
“Unfortunately it was pretty much one-way traffic. We need to have a big day tomorrow to try and claw ourselves back. All we can do is give it our best.”