But then Kent responded themselves with the ball despite a boundary-laced cameo from England all-rounder Moeen Ali as Worcestershire closed on 95-3.

The home side, who conceded 361 runs in the Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Surrey, may have feared the worse after Kent skipper Sam Northeast won the toss on a good batting wicket in the blazing heat.

Skipper Joe Leach and 19-year-old Josh Tongue in particular impressed with the ball and Kent, despite lower order resistance from Matt Coles and Adam Rouse, would have been disappointed to be bowled out in 73.1 overs.

All of their batsmen except openers Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sean Dickson got into double figures but no-one went past 50.

As well as Leach and Tongue bowled, some of the shot selection of the Kent batsmen was questionable and their score was below-par.

Leach bowled an inspired opening spell and sent back openers Bell-Drummond and Dickson during an initial burst of 7-3-7-2.

Bell-Drummond (1) nicked through to Daryl Mitchell at first slip and then Dickson (7) tried to work the ball on the leg side and the ball struck his pads and bounced onto the stumps.

Joe Denly (12) drove Ed Barnard straight to Brett D’Oliveira at point and then Tongue bowled a fiery spell after lunch which accounted for Sam Northeast (42) and Will Gidman (12)

In between Joe Weatherley wafted at a wide Leach and was caught behind and then Darren Stevens (39) flat batted John Hastings straight into the hands of deep extra cover.

Kent were then 139-7 but resistance came at last from Coles and Rouse who opted to counter-attack in adding 79 in 16 overs.

It needed the return of Tongue to break the stand shortly before tea as Rouse (34) provided Mitchell with a third catch and then Coles (47) played back to Moeen and was lbw.

Leach finished with 3-42 to take his season’s wicket tally to 36 and Tongue, in his first season of senior cricket, 3-56 to move onto 24 victims.

The wickets were soon tumbling when Worcestershire launched their reply and D’Oliveira failed to trouble the scorers before he was pouched at second slip off Stevens.

Moeen was ultra aggressive in his approach with nine fours in his 37 off just 16 balls, a mixture of glorious cover drives and edges which just eluded the slip cordon.

But then he fell for the three card trick and was caught at deep mid wicket off Coles who then had opener Mitchell taken at third slip.

The positive aspect for Worcestershire was Joe Clarke looking like he was returning to form during an unbeaten 34.

He received good support from George Rhodes (16), in his first senior appearance of the season during an unbroken stand of 47.

Worcestershire assistant coach Matt Mason said: “It was a pretty even day after the way that last session went.

“With the ball we were fairly happy. We would have taken their score at the start of the day because it’s a good surface. It’s got some pace and some bounce.

“There was a little bit of suspect batting from them as well and some good bowling from us. At 140-7, I think you could argue that we would have wanted to finish things off a little bit sooner than we did.

“As time goes on in the game, the ball gets a bit softer, conditions get a bit easier for batting so I think the bowlers stuck to their task well.

“Then we had a frantic start to our innings and at the end of the day 100-3 is not a bad effort for the start of our chase.”

Kent all-rounder Matt Coles, who top-scored with 47 and picked up two wickets, said: “There was a little bit there for the bowlers as we proved this evening.

“I think 260 is a challenging total. Moeen Ali then got away a little bit at the start of their innings. He came out all guns blazing.

“But it was a good to get that wicket and a couple more and we are in a decent position going into tomorrow.

“If we stick to our basics tomorrow, then there is no reason why we can’t have a lead going into the second innings.

“We’ve got to bowl as straight as possible, don’t give them too much room to free the hands. If we can be relentless with the line and length tomorrow for as long as we can, I’m sure we will get the rewards.”

 

Kent won the toss and elected to bat.

Kent side: Bell-Drummond, Dickson, Denly, Northeast, Weatherley, Stevens, Gidman, Rouse, Coles, Shah, Claydon.

Worcs side: Mitchell, D’Oliveira, Moeen Ali, Clarke, Rhodes, Cox, Whiteley, Barnard, Leach, Hastings, Tongue.

Close of play day one: Kent 260 all out, Worcs 95/3.