Translating his impressive one-day form into runs in the red-ball format, the South African top-scored with 117 to help the Second Division promotion contenders to close on 297-4 at the end of day one.
Gloucestershire stuck to their task in the field on a hot day and fought back in the final session, taking three wickets to partially redress the balance. Craig Miles claimed 2-61 but, in the continued absence of front-line pace-men David Payne and Liam Norwell, lacked the incisive support needed to trouble a strong Kent batting line-up.
Clearly, it was a day for batting and Joe Denly did not hesitate to make first use of a placid Bristol pitch, watching from the dressing room balcony as Dickson and Daniel Bell-Drummond staged an opening stand of 124 in 46.2 overs.
Becalmed in the face of a probing new-ball spell from Matt Taylor, Bell-Drummond mustered just two scoring shots in the first hour as the hosts kept a lid on things.
But Dickson played with rather more aggression, raising a chance-less half century from 108 balls to ensure the scoreboard kept ticking over. Bell-Drummond eventually summoned fluency and was one run short of his first fifty of the summer when he lost concentration end edged a Miles length ball to Chris Dent at second slip.
There was no stopping the resolute Dickson, who pulled and drove to good effect to eclipse the 69 not out made by Heino Kuhn, Kent’s previous highest score in the Championship this summer.
He dominated a partnership of 92 for the second wicket with fellow South African Kuhn and guided a Benny Howell delivery through third man to realise three figures via his 11th boundary in the 66th over.
Increasingly assertive, Dickson was looking to accelerate when he miss-judged a Miles in-swinger and played on, having faced 214 balls and struck 13 fours and a six.
Certainly, Gloucestershire’s hard-pressed bowlers were glad to see the back of him and, energised by that success, they made further in-roads soon afterwards, Kuhn attempting to hit Graeme van Buuren over mid-on and offering a catch to James Bracey for 33.
Their progress checked at 220-3, Kent’s innings was in need of a re-boot when Denly and Zak Crawley joined forces in the 72nd over. Crawley succumbed to the new ball, edging Ryan Higgins to second slip for 30, but Denly (36 not out) and Darren Stevens (11 not out) reached the close without further mishap.
Kent centurion Sean Dickson said: “It feels so good to finally spend some time in the middle and get some bat on ball in decent conditions after all the early-season rain.
rain of April and May.
“It’s a strange wicket.It’s not flat and you cannot get your front foot down and play into the line. It’s slow and low and a bit two-paced and that makes it difficult to decide how to play. We set our sights on batting all day and we’ll certainly take 297-4.
“We’re in a good position to bat for one or two sessions tomorrow, get as many as possible and then put them in tired.”
Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson was pleased with the application shown by his players. He said: “We knew it would be a tough day when we lost the toss. We wanted to keep them under 300 for the day if we could and we did that, and we then picked up a couple of wickets at the end.
“We have to look forward to tomorrow and think that, if we can grab a few early, we might be able to restrict them and get back.
“Craig Miles bowled really well and was backed up by the other lads, who were consistent in difficult conditions. We stuck at it on a day when restricting and controlling the scoring was important.”