Ben Compton celebrated being handed both his county cap and a new three-year contract by making 66 on day one of Kent’s Rothesay County Championship game with Northants at Canterbury.

The hosts were 325 for four at stumps, with Tawanda Muyeye hitting 58 and captain Daniel Bell-Drummond unbeaten on 66.

Liam Guthrie took 2 for 54 but it was a gruelling day in the heat for the visitors, who used seven different bowlers after losing the toss and being asked to field.

The 173rd Canterbury Festival continued with an immaculate minute’s silence for Wayne Larkins before the start of play and both sides wore black armbands in honour of the former Northamptonshire and England opener, who passed away yesterday at the age of 71.

Kent chose to bat in already sweltering heat, with Jaydn Denly driving a regal six through point early on, but his stylish innings came to an end when Guthrie had him caught by Justin Broad at gully for 35 off 36 balls.

It was 110 for one at lunch, at which point Compton was awarded his county cap by the former England seamer and incoming Kent president Richard Ellison at a ceremony in front of the pavilion.

His partner, Ekansh Singh, was playing only his second first-class game, but he looked as assured as Denly had, only to fall a run shy of his 50 when Dom Leech had him caught behind.

Compton did pass 50 in Leech’s next over, carving a no ball through point for four, but he nicked Broad behind, leaving Kent on 207 for three at tea and the hosts chose this moment to announce that he’d also agreed a new deal that will keep him at the Spitfire Ground until the end of the 2028 season, ending speculation he was moving to Essex.

Muyeye then reached 50 with an elegant flick of the wrist for a single off Calvin Harrison but Guthrie got him lbw with the new ball.Bell-Drummond became the third Kent player to make a half-century when he hit Guthrie for four through cover and he was joined by Joey Evision, who had reached 29 not out by stumps.

Kent’s Ben Compton said: (On Receiving his Cap) “It was a lovely day. Special honour. So very delighted. It was amazing to have some family over and share that with me. So I want to savour and yeah, just delighted for that.

(On what it means to play for Kent) “Since I’ve joined, I’ve really just enjoyed everything about it. We have had some tough times in the recent past, and that’s no secret, but I think the dressing room is very solid, very sound. Really enjoyed Daniel Bell-Drummond as captain in the recent past, and really enjoyed Adam Hollioake, thus far. So some good signs. And like I said in my statement, I’m keen to be a part of the journey where this team is going to take us.”

(On Jaydn Denly and Ekansh Singh) “Yeah, they’re very talented. And Jaydn, we saw this morning, got off to a really good start. And that was on the back of an excellent innings last week against Lancashire, against a quality attack. So, the future is bright for him, and he’s learning. He’s learning on the job. So I think he’s got a sound head. He actually bats beyond his years when he’s out there. So I think both he and Ekansh show a lot of promise and giving them a go today. And they really took that.”

(On the game) “Yeah, I’ve actually thought the whole day they actually bowed really well. They were very tight. They realized the pitch is quite slow. It wasn’t going to create any immediate problems for batters in the sense of level of threat, but it was hard to score because it was quite slow. So, I think they recognized that quite early and credit them for bowling well. I think they hung in there.”

Northants’ Liam Guthrie said: “We ended the day in a pretty good spot considering they got off to a quick start in the morning. I think we pegged it back really well, got our lines a bit straight and made our length a bit fuller rather than short and ended up in a decent spot at the end of the day.

“Obviously if you get a set batsman out (Compton) on one of those wickets you an bring the run rate down a lot, or a bit. Yeah, it was a good effort by the lads I think, once we got the breakthrough wickets we sort of squeezed them and put pressure back on them.

“It’s a nice batting wicket definitely and we’ve just to keep grinding away, be a bit boring and be a bit patient, get here in the morning and keep grinding away. It’s not ideal (the surface for a Kookaburra game) but we’ve got to find other ways to get wickets and be really patient because on these wickets with the Kookaburra ball and it can be really difficult at times, especially if the batsmen get in.”