Kent dominated a rain-affected first day of their Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at Blackpool.
Opener Ben Compton made 86 not out and Tawanda Muyeye added a stylish 63 as Kent made light work of being invited to bat first.
James Anderson’s first day as Lancashire’s interim skipper didn’t go to plan before play was abandoned shortly after tea.
Opening alongside Compton, Jaydn Denly batted with pleasant ease to put on 55 in exactly an hour before he top-edged a sweep off spinner Chris Green and was well caught at deep square-leg by Mitchell Stanley for 34.
Daniel Bell-Drummond then made 13 when he edged George Balderson behind, where Matty Hurst took a good catch standing up to the stumps. However, Compton and Muyeye took their side safely to lunch, when Kent were 105-2 after 33 overs.
Rain then prevented play for 90 minutes but Compton reached his half-century only four overs after the restart when he drove Anderson through mid-on for two. The Kent opener had faced 100 balls and had hit six fours to reach a landmark that also prompted a marked acceleration in the run rate.
Compton and Muyeye extended their third-wicket partnership to 100 in only 19.5 overs although Lancashire had only themselves to blame for dropping Compton on 54, Keaton Jennings putting down a straightforward slip catch off Green.
Batting in a most enterprising fashion, Muyeye reached his own fifty off 66 balls and made light of the cloudy conditions that should have aided Anderson’s seam attack.
But Lancashire got the breakthrough they needed in the penultimate over before tea, when Muyeye sought to hit Balderson down the ground but only skied the ball to cover, where debutant Stanley took his second catch of the day.
That ended Muyeye’s 126-run stand with Compton and as things turned out, the wicket fell 10 balls before rain forced the players off a couple of deliveries before the scheduled tea interval.
Umpires David Millns and Sue Redfern abandoned play at 5.20 with Compton 14 runs short of his fourth first-class century of the season and Jack Leaning unbeaten on four.
Balderson was the most successful Lancashire bowler with 2-37 while Anderson bowled nine wicketless overs for 36 runs.
Muyeye said: “The chat before the game was to win the first session and the openers started pretty well. We’re in a pretty strong position.
“Obviously, I played a pretty terrible shot but that’s just the nature of it, I can’t get everything right all the time.
“It was tough out there at times. It was a slow pitch and the fields they set were pretty good. But we’re in a strong position.
“Ben Compton played very well and that allowed me to play my natural game. We batted pretty well together.
“I think this period of the summer is the best because you never think about anything other than watching the ball and making sure your well-being is good.
“It’s pretty tough to have a one-day break after the Blast, so we’re pretty pleased with the way we’ve started.”
Report from ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
