After overnight rain delayed the start of the Championship season at Canterbury, Kent’s seamers quickly took advantage of Sam Billings winning the toss to give the hosts the undoubted edge on opening day before the heavens actually opened just after tea to quite possibly save Northamptonshire from being bowled out.

After Matt Quinn and Matt Hogan had reduced the visitors to 27-2 in the first twenty five minutes of play, Joey Evison took a wicket with his first ball as a contracted Kent player, before Grant Stewart took three more in a five over spell that only yielded six runs.

The visitors disappeared as soon as light was offered to them minutes from the tea break, but arguably the most important dismissal of the day came in the solitary over after the break when Hogan grabbed a second LBW decision on his Kent debut removing opener Vanconcelos after a brave 39 and the only visitors score in double figures.

When Billings won the toss after the morning’s session was frustratingly lost – there was no rain at the Spitfire Ground since early morning yet there did seem a reluctance from the match officials to start before lunch.

When play eventually started at 2.15pm, Quinn and Hogan were quickly into their stride – Hogan trapped Azad in front of the wicket whilst Quinn sent Whiteman’s blue middle stump flying.

Quinn was unlucky not to get a second wicket when Ben Compton just couldn’t hold onto a sharp chance given by Northants skipper Proctor at leg slip, but he did hold on to a sharp second chance from Evison’s first ball which left the visitors three down.

It was soon four, five and six and all three went to Stewart! Wicket for from his first ball of the season saw Keogh edge to Billings, then the bowler magnificently held onto a return catch from Cobb before keeper McManus gave his opposite number a regulation caught behind leaving Stewart with figure of 3-6 off his first five overs of the season.

Despite all the carnage, Vasconcelos was still there having faced the first ball of the season, but the tea break seemed to break his concentration as in what proved to be the only over bowled in the final session, Hogan got a beauty just to tag back and pin the opener in front of his stumps.

The rain came to Northants “rescue” almost immediately but the go into day two on 85-7, and given the much improved forecast for the rest of the match, Billings and coach Matt Walker will be hoping that the promised improvement on Day Two in the weather will allow their side to press home the advantage from a damp but totally enthralling opening day of the new season.

Kent’s Grant Stewart said: “It was a nice way to get into the season (taking a wicket with his first ball) but everyone bowled beautifully today and hopefully we’ll back it up over the next few days. You never know until both teams bat, but it’d be nice to start with a win.

“It’s always pleasing, but the job’s not done yet. It’s a pretty bowler friendly wicket and probably they would have looked to bowl first if they’d won the toss. You try to be consistent and let that wicket help you out a bit. I think all five of us that bowled today did that and we were well supported in the field.

“It’s possible there’s something in in for the batters. They’ve got a fairly good bowling attack too so it’ll be tough work, but you just play the ball on its merit, you don’t want to have any preconceptions. And I think the style of play that a lot of our batters have they’ll look to put pressure on. It’ll be exciting to see how it goes tomorrow.

“To finally get outside was great and everyone enjoyed themselves today. Funnily enough my hands didn’t hurt (after catching Cobb). It just went straight into the middle of them, I think it was self-preservation more than anything else. It was a good wicket to get as he can be pretty dangerous, so we were lucky to get that one.”

Northamptonshire’s John Sadler said: “It was a shame to call that toss wrong this morning to be honest but these things happen sometimes and sometimes you’ve got to go in when conditions aren’t in your favour. We tried our best but that’s the way it goes.

“I’m pretty cool with the shot selection. We just nicked a couple and missed a couple of straight ones. It was swinging and it was nipping a little bit. The lights were on, it was grey, it was overcast and they were tough conditions, so we’ll come back tomorrow and start again.

“I think we saw Ricardo at his best today, I thought he played beautifully and he played a different game to some of the other lads. He made it look quite easy at times and of course it wasn’t

“He’s worked tremendously hard. Last year was humbling for him and every player who’s played the game for a period of time goes through those periods where it’s a bit tough but he’s one hell of a player and he’ll come good.

“He showed today that when he’s playing well he’s got a wonderful flow. He’s an amazing timer of the ball and we saw a couple of those attributes today. It’s just a shame that he had to go out for an over in the dark and he got one that nipped back. And then we came off two balls later.”