Ben Compton scores fourth hundred of the season as Kent reach 286-2 on day one at Northants

Ben Compton continued his golden summer with another brilliant century for Kent on Thursday.

The 28-year-old made an unbeaten 125 as Kent made Northants regret their decision to bowl first in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Northampton.

All eyes were on Compton's opening partner Zak Crawley, named in the England Test squad on Wednesday, at the start of the day after Ricardo Vasconcelos had put Kent in on a wicket which looked like, and proved to be, good for batting.

The first ball Crawley faced was pulled forcefully to the boundary, he edged his second ball just short of second slip before another four off his hips.

The all-action opening slowed into a more sedate pace as both Crawley and Compton left and defended the ball with great skill, albeit with little movement assisting the bowlers. Crawley was particularly patient outside his off stump.

Crawley’s half-century, his second of the summer, came in 75 balls, with the opening duo putting on 93 before Crawley edged Matthew Kelly behind for a season's best 62 just after lunch.

At the other end, Compton was less fluent but more effective as he went on to bat throughout the entire opening day. Having struggled with the short ball for a period at Beckenham against Surrey last week, Northants opted for a similar approach but Compton was untroubled on this occasion.

He is Division 1's leading runscorer (795), faced the most balls (1,960) and clocked up the most boundaries (98). He has now batted for 43 hours and 12 minutes, and has blocked out 1,534 dot balls.

It took him 53 minutes to reach double figures at Wantage Road with his fifty coming in 131 deliveries. There were moments of lucidity, namely a couple of cover drives and a pull which he thought had