Surrey make 445-5 day one of County Championship game against Kent at The Oval

Kent’s makeshift bowling attack was made to toil on the opening day of their County Championship clash at Surrey on Sunday.

The home side racked up an imposing 445-5 at The Oval with South African Hashim Amla and Ben Geddes both making centuries.

Amla put on 213 for the third wicket with 20-year-old Geddes, who was playing just his fourth first-class game - and the first home fixture of his fledgling career.

Stand-in Kent captain Jack Leaning, skippering the side after Sam Billings was drafted into the England Test side as a Covid replacement for Ben Foakes, won the toss and opted to field first on a green wicket.

Surrey started impressively, though, helped by some wayward Kent bowling from Jacob Duffy and debutant Toby Pettman, who was making his debut after joining on loan from Nottinghamshire.

Ryan Patel got off to a flyer, scoring at more than a run a ball. He had raced to 40 before he edged behind an excellent Matt Milnes delivery to leave Surrey 64-1 in the 12th over.

That soon became 70-2 when, four balls later, Pettman had his first Kent wicket as he strangled Rory Burns down the leg side for 24.

It was a day of landmarks for Amla, who reached 19,000 first-class runs when he reached 26. But he wasn’t finished there. Surrey reached 137-2 at lunch.

There were two chances in the afternoon session for Kent to break the Amla-Geddes partnership.

George Linde missed a run-out opportunity when Geddes took a quick single off Milnes, a direct hit would have seen Amla removed on 47.

Then, with the score on 203-2, Linde was unable to take what would have been an outstanding one-handed grab at backward point to remove Geddes off Duffy for 46.

Skipper Leaning rotated his bowlers as best he could but there were too many loose