Kent seize early advantage on opening day of County Championship game against Lancashire on rain-shortened day

Kent made the most of the conditions on a rain-shortened first day to seize the early advantage against Lancashire in their LV= Insurance County Championship match on Monday.

After last week’s heatwave, Manchester reclaimed its reputation for inclement weather with rain and a strong wind battering the ground for most of the morning, ensuring no play was possible until 3pm before the visitors won the toss and elected to bowl.

Only 34.2 overs were bowled but, in that time, Kent struck four times to have Lancashire 112-4 before rain and bad light ended proceedings early with nearly 16 overs remaining.

It was Kent’s overseas quick Navdeep Saini who did most of the damage, taking 3-45 from the Brian Statham End, including two wickets in two balls just after tea.

Lancashire’s batsmen fought hard in conditions with Luke Wells top-scoring with 35 before receiving a near unplayable delivery from the India pacer and Josh Bohannon contributing a fluent 27.

The hosts’ openers Keaton Jennings and Wells made a steady start in tricky conditions against the international pace duo of Matt Henry and Saini.

Both Kent bowlers found early movement on a wicket that had been covered for most of the previous two days.

Just as the first-wicket pair looked to have weathered the storm, Saini produced a fine delivery to Jennings which was edged to Zak Crawley at second slip with the opener departing for 14 and the score 24-1.

Bohannon combined well with Wells as the Red Rose pair took a positive approach, Bohannon cutting Grant Stewart for four off the back foot a particular highlight.

But after Bohannon had drilled Nathan Gilchrist through extra cover for four in reaching a fluent 27, the bowler hit back with the next ball finding an edge that was