Kent’s decision to bat first backfired as Worcestershire had much the better of the opening day of their Rothesay County Championship Division 2 tussle on Friday.
Worcestershire closed the day 94-1 after bowling Kent out for 196.
Olly Hannon-Dalby bowled superbly for 3-27 from 18 overs, building pressure which debutant Beyers Swanepoel exploited to take 3-51.
The visitors’ total at least represented something of a recovery from 99-7 thanks to eighth-wicket pair Matt Milnes (50 from 61 balls) and Keith Dudgeon (38 from 61 balls).
Worcestershire completed a strong first home day of this season, with Jake Libby unbeaten on 52.
Milnes said: “It was nice to get a few runs.
“The pitch got slightly easier as the day went on and I tried to make the most of that. Keith batted quite positively, which meant that I could just tick over.
“He’s a good batter to have down the order and it worked really well as, hopefully, it will many times this season.
“At the back-end of the innings. we put up a bit of a fight and managed to get close to 200, but we are slightly behind in the game. As a bowling group, we didn’t put the ball in the right areas for long enough and that’s what we need to do tomorrow.
“Lategan played very positively and hit some nice shots early on against a few balls that we were not too unhappy with as a bowler. Thankfully, he nicked one of them and we have got to just stay patient in there and keep charging in and try to hit off-stump.
“I know Jake Libby very well [they played together for Nottinghamshire] so, hopefully, I can produce a good one for him tomorrow!”
Kent’s decision to bat was surprising and, while Zak Crawley settled well, he lost two partners in the first hour.
Hannon-Dalby’s opening spell included the wicket of Ben Compton, caught by Ethan Brookes at second slip, and Swanepoel – with Kent in 2024 – struck with his 15th delivery for Worcestershire, which trapped Sam Northeast.
When Crawley (27) edged to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick in Matthew Waite’s first over (2-31), three wickets had fallen in 29 deliveries.
Tawanda Muyeye and Daniel Bell-Drummond eked out 37 but Kent hit serious post-lunch turbulence.
Four wickets fell for 24 runs in 46 balls, triggered by Bell-Drummond offering no shot at Swanepoel, only to see the ball arrow in to knock out leg-stump. Hannon-Dalby produced perfect outswingers, which Muyeye and Chris Benjamin edged to the keeper.
Joey Evison, dropped on five, reached just 14 before falling lbw to Waite.
That was 99-7 and Kent badly needed ballast. Milnes and Dudgeon supplied some with a composed and sensible stand of 50 runs in 14 overs.
But Swanepoel returned to oust the latter lbw and Matt Parkinson soon edged Tom Taylor behind, although Milnes and last man Michael Cohen added 41 before the latter edged Brookes (1-25) to supply Roderick’s fifth catch of the innings.
Dan Lategan launched Worcestershire’s reply with a flurry of six fours in the first five overs.
He then edged Milnes (1-31) to third slip in search of a seventh boundary, but it was a valuable cameo from the 19-year-old.
It gave the innings early impetus, on which Libby built with characteristic compactness to post a 67-ball half-century.
