Bad light and persistent heavy rain restricted play to just 57 balls on the opening day of Kent’s Bob Willis Trophy clash with south group rivals Middlesex in Canterbury.

After winning the toss, Kent, who decided to bowl first in overcast conditions, made their first breakthrough after 4.4 overs when Matt Milnes, following through off his own bowling, snaffled a bat-pad catch that looped up off the front pad and via the inside edge of Max Holden’s bat to make it 11 for one.

With the floodlights shining, rain stopped play after 9.3 overs forcing umpires Nigel Llong and Neil Bainton to invite the players to take an early lunch with the visitors on 22 for one.

Bad light and drizzle had already delayed the start to the match by 75 minutes with the loss of its first 11 overs. Despite a brief abatement to the showers and an umpires’ inspection at 2.45pm, the clouds and rain soon returned forcing play to be abandoned for the day at 3.30pm.     

Earlier, Kent opted against giving a debut to Nathan Gilchrist, their loan signing from Somerset, electing instead to give Fred Klassen, the Netherlands left-armer, only his third first-class appearance. Milnes also returned under rotation to replace Harry Podmore.

However, Last week’s double-century maker Jordan Cox missed out after a breach of club Covid-19 protocols forced him to self-isolate for a week. He was replaced by Joe Denly following his release from England’s bio-secure Test bubble. Heino Kuhn was given leave of absence to be with his wife Trudie for the birth of their first child.