Knowing that victory with four bonus points would guarantee Rothesay County Championship Division Two promotion, Kent hosted Gloucestershire at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury.
Having won the toss, the home team skipper, Daniel Bell-Drummond, elected to bowl first. That looked like a great decision when Matt Milnes made an early breakthrough. Joe Phillips guided a shot to slip as if it was fielding practice and Sam Northeast took the catch.
Progress for Kent was then halted by a partnership between Ollie Price and Tommy Boorman that featured a number of boundaries interspersed with many play and misses and a couple of very brave ‘leaves’. They put on 62 together before ‘Golden Arm’ Ekansh Singh was brought into the attack. He struck when he had Boorman caught behind by Chris Benjamin for 29 as the number three bat went to drive one that left him. That was Kent’s last success of the session and the visitors went in for lunch at 74 for 2.
During the interval Grant Stewart was presented with his richly deserved county cap by Sky Sports presenter, and former Kent captain, David Fulton. That was an award considered well overdue by many Kent supporters, and he becomes the county’s 224th capped player.
After the restart, Kent earned their first bowling point when a Matt Quinn delivery caught the top corner of Miles Hammond’s bat and looped up to be caught by Tawanda Muyeye. Price then completed his half century from 118 deliveries having struck eight boundaries. He had only added two more in fourteen deliveries when he was adjudged LBW to Keith Dudgeon to make the score 125 for 4.
Captain wicketkeeper James Bracey took the attack to Kent but lost a partner when Kamran Dhariwal didn’t get to the pitch of the ball and edged his drive off Milnes to Muyeye who held on well at third slip. Daz Ahmed then hit his first ball for four before dragging his fourth ball onto his off stump to give Khaled Ahmed his first wicket and Kent a second bowling point.
Sai Kishore edged Ahmed to Benjamin and troubled neither the umpire nor the scorers when walking off without awaiting a decision and without scoring. Bracey reached his fifty milestone from 68 balls with nine fours but Che Simmons didn’t hang around. He was bowled by Ahmed for four, when playing back to a full delivery leaving the score on 171 for 8. At tea, they had advanced the score to 205 for 8 with Bracey 74 not out and Matt Taylor 12 not out.
They continued after tea and there was the rare sight of a runner, Boorman, taking to the field with Bracey unable to run between the wickets. Bracey fell eventually when caught by Northeast at gulley off Milnes for a gutsy 86. James Langridge followed three balls later, caught and bowled, as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 229 with Taylor unbeaten on 22. Milnes ended with 4 for 55, Ahmed 3 for 37, Quinn 1 for 30, Singh 1 for 38 and Dudgeon 1 for 56.
When Kent came out to bat, twenty-four overs remained in the day. Bracey’s injury, actually sustained before tea when twelfth man Bertie Foreman had a shy at the stumps and hit him behind the knee, meant that he was unable to keep wicket or even field. Hammond took the gloves and Price undertook captaincy duty. The visitors made an early breakthrough when Langridge trapped Zak Crawley LBW with one that pitched on middle and leg and straightened.
Ben Compton survived a massive appeal on nine for caught behind off Langridge and he and Northeast brought up the fifty in the fourteenth over, and their half century partnership one ball later. Four overs remained in the day when the umpires conferred and Price agreed to bowl spinners at both ends in the hope of making a breakthrough before the close of play. Two more overs were completed before the umpires took the players off with Kent on 71 for 2. Compton will start day two on 33, and Northeast on 27.