Wes Agar takes 5-63 as Kent (110-1) trail Northamptonshire (237) by 127 runs after day one of County Championship game at Northampton

Wes Agar’s five-wicket haul put Kent in the driving seat of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash at bottom side Northamptonshire on Sunday.

Australian Agar bagged 5-63 as Northants were bowled out for 237 despite winning the toss and opting to bat first at Wantage Road.

A half-century from Tawanda Muyeye and Daniel Bell-Drummond’s unbeaten 48 saw Kent reduce the deficit to just 127 with nine first-innings wickets remaining by the close.

“It was a great day of cricket for us,” said Agar. “Making early inroads helped. I thought Arshdeep [Singh] bowled really well with the new ball.

“For our batters to go in tonight, it’s not easy and I thought Tawanda [Muyeye] and Daniel [Bell-Drummond] played a great innings so far. Hopefully they can continue that tomorrow.

“At times with the Kookaburra ball the game goes a bit slower and it gets a bit flatter. For Hami [Qadri] to come in and break those partnerships by bowling spin on a day one wicket, I think that’s a big tick for his game moving forward.

“Luckily enough we got the ball moving a bit in the air, which was nice and I was able to get some wickets. It’s always nice to have a ball in your hand when it is reversing.”

Agar made the first breakthrough at the start of his second over when he removed Ricardo Vasconcelos without score. It was 19-2 nine balls later as Arshdeep Singh picked up Emilio Gay (15) and then 42-3 as skipper Luke Procter went for seven inside the first 11 overs.

A fluent stand of 62 between Sam Whiteman (40) and Rob Keogh showed there were no demons in the pitch.

Keogh took an unbeaten 116 off Kent in the opening game of the season and tucked into their bowling once more. He punched Matt Quinn square for four and greeted Hamidullah