A stuttering batting performance saw Kent struggle to stay in touch with Glamorgan on day one of their County Championship game in Cardiff.

Kent made a decent start after winning the toss and choosing to bat, before their hosts came back strongly in the final two sessions of the day. A flurry of wickets in the afternoon session left Kent on the brink of being dismissed cheaply, before a slight recovery saw them reach 236-8 when bad light brought the players off with four overs remaining in the day.

Captain Rob Key top-scored with 63 for the visitors, while Adam Ball made a more than useful 42 – his highest score of the season so far. Michael Hogan carried on his form from Friday night’s NatWest T20 Blast tie between the sides, as he once again impressed for Glamorgan, taking 3-47 from 21 overs.

Kent had made two changes to the XI that drew at home to Essex last week – vice-captain Sam Northeast’s struggle for runs saw Fabian Cowdrey brought in to make his County Championship debut, while Doug Bollinger was replaced by Robbie Joseph after the Australian had woken up with a sore shoulder.

After choosing to bat on a bright and sunny morning in Wales, skipper Key would have been happy with the start he and opening partner Daniel Bell-Drummond made, taking their side up to shortly before the lunch break in relatively untroubled fashion.

The score had reached 74 when home captain Mark Wallace called on his young off-spinner Andrew Salter, and the 21-year-old made an instant impact, having Bell-Drummond caught at short leg for 39.

Cowdrey, with two previous First Class appearances to his name, both for Cardiff MCCU, saw Kent through to lunch with Key, but would make just nine in the first County Championship innings of his career when he edged Salter to Jim Allenby at slip early in the afternoon.

That wicket would be the first of four wickets to fall in the session, as Key (63) and Brendan Nash (18) both fell with the score on 131 – Key lbw to Allenby and Nash bowled by a swinging Graham Wagg delivery.

Darren Stevens then made 8 before flashing a drive off Allenby outside off-stump and edging to Jacques Rudolph at second slip, who took a good catch.

Ben Harmison and Sam Billings saw their side through to the tea break, before Billings fell in the first over of the evening session, playing onto his own stumps off the impressive Hogan for 4.

The pitch at the SWALEC was not doing anything too much to cause unnecessary problems for the batsmen, although the home side’s disciplined and probing attack kept the batsmen honest all day, with Hogan in particular getting some deliveries to move off the seam.

Kent were 157-6 at the fall of wicket-keeper Billings’ wicket, at which point Adam Ball strode to the middle to join Harmison.

The pair then went on to add a vitally important 58 together, put on in just over 20 overs, as Ball looked to be positive with Harmison more interested in trying to occupy the crease and spend some time in the middle.

Both men would fall before the close; Ball bowled for a season-best 42 by a Hogan delivery that cut back into him, and Harmison caught brilliantly by a diving Will Bragg when attempting a rare attacking stroke into the legside, falling for a 101-ball 33.

Mitch Claydon and Adam Riley saw their side through to the close without further loss in a light-affected final hour, with stumps eventually being called at just gone 18.30pm, by which stage Kent’s first innings total had moved onto 236-8.

They will hope to reach 250 to secure their second batting bonus point when play resumes at 11am tomorrow morning, before getting the ball in their hands and doing some damage to the Glamorgan batting line-up.

 

Stumps, day one: Glamorgan vs. Kent, LV= County Championship, Division Two, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff, 15-18 June 2014:

Kent 236-8 (Key 63, Ball 42; Hogan 3-47, Allenby 2-24) after 92 overs

 

Glamorgan: Rudolph, Bragg, Wallace*†, Cooke, Wright, Allenby, Wagg, Smith, Salter, Cosker, Hogan

Kent: Key*, Bell-Drummond, Cowdrey, Nash, Harmison, Stevens, Billings†, Ball, Claydon, Riley, Joseph

Kent won the toss and elected to bat

Bonus points: Glamorgan 2, Kent 1

 

Full scorecard available here