Kent fought to 172 for six on day one of their Rothesay County Championship match with Middlesex at Canterbury, trailing by 50 at the close on a day when 16 wickets fell.

Jack Davies’ unbeaten 47 was the highlight for Middlesex, as they scratched their way to 222 all out. Nathan Gilchrist took three for 43 and debutant Kashif Ali, occasionally wearing a Dennis Lillee-style headband, claimed three for 60, but Davies’ ninth-wicket partnership of 63 with Blake Cullen was already looking crucial as Middlesex ran through Kent’s top order.

England’s Zak Crawley continued to struggle as he went for a fourth ball duck, lbw to Toby Roland-Jones and Cullen took three for 51 to help reduce Kent to 79 for six before Harry Finch and Grant Stewart rallied the home side, finishing unbeaten on 49 and 46 respectively.

Kent had prepared a lime green wicket for the benefit of Keith Dudgeon, who’d taken eight wickets in the rout of Northants, but even though he was injured in training on Thursday they had no hesitation in choosing to bowl.

Dudgeon was replaced by Kashif, while Middlesex drafted in Stephen Eskinazi in place of Sam Robson.

A crowd of over 1,200 watched a morning session that was played out to a constant chorus of groaning from the home fielders, with almost every delivery troubling the batters.

Nathan Fernandes made just four before Gilchrist sent his off stump cartwheeling and Stewart then cleaned up Eskinazi for 14 in almost identical fashion.

Leus Du Plooy ground out 25 before charging down the wicket to Kashif and getting caught behind. Middlesex, however, made it to 89 for three at lunch.

Gilchrist then took charge getting Ryan Higgins in the second over of the afternoon, caught behind for 14, before he strangled Max Holden for 26.

Ben Geddes skied Jas Singh to Joey Evison at backward point for 13 and Zafar Gohar was bowled by Kashif for 11, playing on middle, when the ball pitched on off and hit.

Roland-Jones went in almost identical fashion. He was put down twice by Ben Compton at short-leg in the 45th over, only to lose his off stump to Kashif’s final delivery.

That left Middlesex on 150 for eight, but Cullen and Davies responded with a stand that was only broken when Singh bowled the former off-stump for 33.

The next ball to Henry Brookes was nearly caught by Finch but ended up flying through the slip cordon for four. Brookes, however, added just another single before he nicked Stewart to Jack Leaning.

The suspicion that 222 might be a useful score deepened when Roland-Jones hit Crawley plum on the knee-roll of his back pad. Daniel Bell-Drummond then went for six, shouldering arms to Ryan Higgins.

Tawanda Muyeye went for a combative 29, nicking Cullen to Eskinazi at first slip, but Leaning lasted just three balls before Brookes had him caught behind.

Joey Evison drove his first ball from Cullen for four and was caught behind off the next and Ben Compton was strangled for 32 to the same combination.

At that point it looked like the hosts might subside for under three figures but Stewart led the counter-attack, hitting Roland-Jones back over his head for six and edging Kent closer to parity by stumps.

Middlesex’s Jack Davies said: “Obviously it’s not an easy wicket to bat on so it’s just nice contribute in any way I can. Hopefully we can finish with a first innings lead and go from there.

“Quite a bit’s going on (on the pitch) to be fair, the energy the seamers have put in, they’ve got out., they’ve reaped their rewards. There’s been some swing in the air, but mainly there’s grass on the wicket, it’s seaming around a bit. 

“If we bowl well in the morning we should have a lead and we’ll go from there. It’s a lively bowling partnership on that wicket and we’ll go again tomorrow morning. It’s not going to last four days!”

Kent’s Adam Hollioake said: “It’s a proper shoot-out, isn’t it? Every over there was a highlight, either a boundary or a wicket or a couple of wickets or a couple of boundaries, so it was great for the crowd here and there was beautiful weather as well, so everyone got there money’s worth.

“It was almost identical to the wicket up at Northants. That may have had something to do with what we requested beforehand because the way that played up there suited our style of play. It’s an exciting wicket, I had supporters coming up to me and saying ‘wow, that was so great to watch.”

“There was pace and bounce but if the batters wanted to play their shots there was enough pace in it for them to do that, so there were boundaries, fours, wickets. It was an exciting day’s cricket.”

““Kashif could have had seven and I think we went past the bat 30 times in that session. Every third ball was going past the edge. It was really exciting and all the bowlers could have had more. I felt we bowled well.

(On being 79 for six) “You’re aware of the situation but they’re also professional athletes. You try not to get caught out by the scoreboard. I think Grant Stewart and Finchy at the end played the situation beautifully. They hung in there and I think at the end of the Middlesex were more glad to get off the pitch than us.

(On Dudgeon) “It’s a massive blow because obviously he was our player of the match up at Northants. This wicket would have suited him perfectly. It’s devastating to lose him but also that’s professional sport. I likened it to a shoot out and it’s like a soldier. We’ve lost one but unfortunately that’s sport. We’ll just have to wait and see how serious it is, but obviously on this pitch he would have made a big difference.”

Picture of Kashif Ali by Ian Scammell