Tawanda Muyeye struck a sparkling 72 on an opening day marked by batting collapses as Kent were bowled out for 231 in this Rothesay County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Muyeye scored fluently all around the wicket hitting nine boundaries as Kent dominated either side of lunch in a fourth wicket stand with Jack Leaning (40) worth 104.

But young Northamptonshire paceman Raphy Weatherall set off a procession of Kent wickets, snaring three in three overs. His additional pace posed real problems during an impressive spell which accounted for Muyeye and Leaning as Kent lost five for 33 in 9.5 overs.

Grant Stewart and Jas Singh then took two wickets each as Kent turned the screws in a testing evening session. Northamptonshire lost five early wickets, closing the day on 118 for seven, trailing by 113. Rob Keogh’s battling unbeaten 53 held the innings together, offering some hope going into day two.

Earlier left-arm quick Liam Guthrie struck twice in his opening spell in his first match in Northamptonshire colours, cleaning up England Test opener Zak Crawley (1) in just the third over of the day.

Northamptonshire opened with a fresh new ball attack of Guthrie and Dom Leech. Crawley never looked comfortable against the Australian and fell playing a booming drive to an inswinger which knocked two stumps out of the ground.

Kent kept the scoreboard ticking before skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond was caught behind pushing outside off-stump to give Guthrie his second scalp. Justin Broad then accounted for Ben Compton with a full one which nipped back and knocked over off-stump.

Kent though started to find their groove. Muyeye clipped Luke Procter off his legs for his first boundary and played a sumptuous drive off Broad.

Some wayward bowling from Northamptonshire before lunch was harshly punished with Leaning taking three boundaries off one over from Leech. Muyeye dispatched Guthrie for consecutive fours before a glorious cover drive off Weatherall brought up a fluent half century off just 60 balls.

After lunch Northamptonshire temporarily put the brake on scoring with Guthrie almost picking up Muyeye on 57, but James Sales could not hold on at first slip.

Runs started flowing again though as the Kent pair brought up their 100 stand, before Weatherall’s triple breakthrough. Finding plenty of bounce and movement, the 20-year-old showed off the extra yard of pace he added during the winter.

First Leaning played down the wrong line and was caught behind. In his next over Weatherall speared one back in to send Muyeye’s off-stump cartwheeling.

In between Joey Evison also fell to a needless runout thanks to a relay effort between Procter and Broad with a direct hit.

With the first ball of his next over, Weatherall hit the top off Stewart’s off-stump. He almost picked up Keith Dudgeon later in the over but Broad shelled an easy chance at third slip. The Kent collapse continued when Leech had Harry Finch caught in the slips.

Dudgeon (26) and Singh staged a late fightback, adding 34 for the ninth wicket before left-arm spinner Saif Zaib nipped to claim the final two wickets in two balls. Northamptonshire were ruing the 38 runs they conceded in extras.

In reply, Procter took consecutive boundaries off each of Nathan Gilchrist’s first two overs, but Northamptonshire lost an early wicket during a testing spell from South African paceman Dudgeon who bowled Ricardo Vasconcelos, breaking middle stump in the process. Procter was next to go when Stewart bowled him with his first delivery.

Kent’s bowlers continued to build pressure, but the next wicket fell to a strangle down the legside when George Bartlett was caught behind off Stewart. Sales then clipped Singh straight to Evison at short midwicket.

Saif Zaib was well bowled by Gilchrist and while Lewis McManus played his shots, he departed in similar fashion to Sales, this time off Evison. Singh picked up Broad without scoring just before stumps.

Keogh though battled hard after being struck on the hand. He played some attractive shots, pulling, clipping nicely off his legs and swotting Gilchrist through midwicket.

Kent batter Tawanda Muyeye said: “It was hard work, but it was quite rewarding to get some runs. It was probably worth more than 70 on that pitch. But I enjoyed myself today.

“I think initially it was disappointing to be bowled out. But I think when we went on to bowl on that pitch, we realised that 230 is probably 300 on there. As a batting group, obviously, it’s not ideal to get 230 but I think for this pitch, it’s a pretty decent score,

“I think that’s the best performance I’ve seen in a very long time from our bowlers. Just from the get-go, everyone just seemed to pretty much be bouncing off each other and just working hard together as a group.”

“And I think it’s been a long time since we’ve been together on the pitch and bringing all the energy together. So that was pretty fun, being around the bowlers when they’re bowling like that.

“Working with Adam Hollioake as head coach has been good. He brings a lot of energy. Big character, obviously. He’s just been so infectious on all of us. It’s new start for everyone, a new start for him, a new start for us.”

“So, I think we’re all just enjoying the space that we’re in and enjoying our cricket. And I think the main thing he’s trying to get out of us is just enjoy your cricket. Like we got 230 today, but we went out and bowled like that, just things like that, which has been a bit different with him.”

Northamptonshire paceman Raphy Weatherall said: “It’s a great feeling to be back on the pitch after six months since playing. Today there was a lot of excitement in the morning building up to the game, and then soon as I’m out on the pitch, it’s just about calming yourself and just bowling how I did last year.

“There have been a few technical changes in my action, things like that, just to support my body a little bit. It was really enjoyable today and getting the wickets in styles which I didn’t tend to get them last year was quite nice for me.

“That back of a length area took off, and it was quite zippy. But the over pitched balls, they were put away quite well by the Kent batters, in particular Leaning and Muyeye. So, when I came on in my second spell, me and Proccy [Luke Procter] spoke about just pulling the length back a little bit and trying to go a bit straighter, and you’ll get a bit more reward from that.”

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