Kent found themselves once again on the back foot after a day of fluctuating fortunes at Canterbury on Thursday.

On what was Ladies Day for Canterbury Week, Essex were less than hospitable as they came from an awkward position to put themselves in control of this County Championship game.

It had all started so well for Kent as they reduced the visitors to just 23 for 4 at one stage, but by the end of the day Essex had a lead of 38 runs whilst Kent only had seven wickets in hand.

Resuming on 14 for 0, Essex soon found themselves under the cosh as the Kent attack went about their job with style as Charlie Shreck picked up his first of five wickets in the day.

First to go was Jaik Mickleburgh for just five as he edged behind to Geraint Jones with Owais Shah (7) trapped lbw by Matt Coles shortly after.

22 for 2 became 23 for 4 in the space of just over five overs as Kent put the pressure on the visiting Essex side with Tom Westley (10) becoming Coles’ second victim of the day and Mark Pettini clean bowled by Shreck for just one.

A counter attack by Ryan ten Doeschate helped Essex out of a hole, but when he perished shortly before lunch for 33 as he edged Darren Stevens into the gloves of Jones, his side were in deep trouble at 76 for 5.

Cue the partnership of the game as wicketeeper James Foster and Adam Wheater put on a stand of 126 for the sixth wicket. They gave up a few chances along the way and on a more favourable day, both umpires Nigel Llong and Jerry Lloyds could have raised a finger or two for some decent lbw appeals, but it wasn’t to be and the pair began to bat Kent out of the game.

Wheater was the first to his half century with Foster following along shortly after with the former a lot more ruthless and prepared to take his chances.

The stand was finally broken on 202 when Wheater was trapped lbw by Adam Riley as he looked to reverse sweep a straight ball from the young spinner.

Despite the breakthrough, Essex went comfortably on to pass Kent’s first innings score of 226 and it wasn’t until the score was on 253 before Kent struck again.

Foster was finally out for 76 as he picked out Key off Stevens’ bowling and that was the catalyst for a flurry of wickets as Graham Napier’s resistance ended when on 43 as he edged Shreck behind.

The very next ball and Shreck had wicket number four of the day as he had David Masters beaten all ends up and he edged the ball through to Azhar Mahmood in the slips.

Just four more runs were added to the score before Shreck wrapped up the innings in the next over with Maurice Chambers nicking the ball to Key in the slips.

With a first innings lead of 47, Essex went about picking up some Kent wickets in the remaining eight overs of the day and they probably couldn’t believe their luck as the picked up three before the close.

First to go was Key for four as he nicked Napier through to Foster. Nightwatchman Adam Riley lasted just eleven balls before a belter of a delivery from Chambers rearranged his stumps and there was still time for Harnhajan Singh to trap Sam Northeast lbw for three.

Upon the fall of the Northeast wicket, the umpires removed the bails and Alex Blake was left to walk off knowing he will have a new partner in the morning and a lot of work laying ahead of him.

Kent won the toss and elected to bat

Kent line up: Northeast, Key, Blake, Nash, Powell, Stevens, Jones, Mahmood, Coles, Riley, Shreck.

Essex line up: Mickleburgh, Westley, Shah, Pettini, ten Doeschate, Wheater, Foster, Napier, Singh, Masters, Chambers.

Umpires: N Llong & J Lloyds

Close of play day two: Kent 226 all out & 9 for 3, Essex 273 all out.