James Anderson’s first day as Lancashire’s interim skipper was spoiled by Ben Compton and the rain as Kent dominated the first day of the Rothesay County Championship match at Blackpool.

Having lost the toss, the visitors were 213 for three when heavy showers caused play to be abandoned shortly after the scheduled tea interval.

At that point, Compton was 86 not out and his 126-run stand with Tawanda Muyeye, who made 63, had been the centrepiece of the day.

Anderson, on the other hand, might have been regretting his decision to insert Kent on what looks a true pitch.

Even in the first few overs of the day, the signs were not propitious for Lancashire. Opening in place of Zak Crawley, Jaydn Denly batted with pleasant ease to put on 55 with Compton in exactly an hour before he top-edged a sweep off the spinner, Chris Green, and was well caught at deep square-leg by Mitchell Stanley for 34.

Daniel Bell-Drummond then made 13 before 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 probably reasonably content to be 105 for two 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 a hundred in only 19.5 overs although Lancashire had only themselves to blame for dropping Compton on 54, 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, having made 63, sought to hit Balderson down the ground but only skied the ball to cover, where 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 ten 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 5.20pm 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 two for 37. Anderson bowled nine wicketless overs for 36 runs.

Lancashire came into this match between the bottom two sides in Division Two four points ahead of their opponents and as the only first-class county yet to record a Championship win this season.

If the weather forecast is anything like accurate, they will have done well to change that situation come Wednesday evening.   

Tawanda Muyeye, Kent batsman, said: “The chat before the game was to win the first session and obviously the openers started pretty well. We kept from strength to strength and 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 wellbeing 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. I don’t know what the game plan is for tomorrow. I think Adam Hollioake will speak about that tomorrow.”

George Balderson, Lancashire all-rounder, said: “It was a tough day. The pitch was slower than we expected. We knew it was a little bit soft so we thought that would help with a bit of seam movement early doors. It turned out it just made it quite slow.”

“That made it difficult to get any edges to carry. We toiled hard, didn’t get it quite right straight after the lunch break but once we got our tactics right and got men in front of the bat it slowed the scoreboard down and we had a bit more success. 

“I don’t think it will particularly get much quicker over the next few days. It’s just going to be hard work with the Kookaburra ball. It probably doesn’t help, it goes soft quickly especially when the outfield’s a little bit wet. 

“So we’ve got work hard and control the scoreboard and get opportunities that way. They played nicely. We bowled a few poor balls and they hit a few good ones for four.  It’s a long game four-day cricket. You get the chance to come back if you get things wrong in a certain spell and we did that towards the end of the day.”

Picture supplied by Luke Adams.