County Championship Division Two: Rob Key hits hundred for Kent
Tuesday 1 September 2015 19:14, UK
Lancashire suffered a bit of a T20 Blast hangover after their Finals Day win at Edgbaston on Saturday, as Kent piled on the runs on day one of their LV= County Championship Division Two clash at Canterbury.
Robert Key (113) hit his first hundred of the season, and Joe Denly scored 65, as the pair put on 149 for the second wicket, helping Kent to 235-3 at the close.
Jordan Clark (2-46) picked up the wickets of both in the evening session as Lancashire - who are also currently top of Division Two - somewhat fought their way back into the game.
Second-placed Surrey - also set for promotion to Division One - had a better day of things against Derbyshire at The Oval, reducing the visitors to 209-5 at stumps.
Chesney Hughes top-scored with an unbeaten 85, building on some helpful contributions from openers Billy Godleman (45) and Ben Slater (42).
Zafar Ansari took 4-44 though to undo Derbyshire's good start, with only one other batsman passing double-figures.
At Chelmsford, Essex struggled to 177-6 by the end of a rain-affected day one against Northamptonshire.
Azharullah was the standout performer with the ball for Northants with 3-51, one of which was the important wicket of Ryan ten Doeschate, top-scorer for Essex with 43.
Mark Pettini (29no) and captain James Foster (25no) did somewhat rescue things for the home side though, with an unbeaten 58-run partnership.
Leicestershire reached 127-2 at the close of day one against Gloucestershire at Grace Road, with only 43.4 overs bowled due to rain.
Angus Robson (61) and Ned Eckersley (23) were the wickets to fall, both to Liam Norwell (2-33).
