County Championship: Monty Panesar takes Kent wickets for Northamptonshire

Monty Panesar had not played County Championship cricket since August 2015

Monty Panesar took his first wickets since rejoining Northants to help the hosts keep Kent's innings in check on the first day at Wantage Road.

The 34-year-old ex-England spinner, playing on a self-funded basis, caught and bowled Sam Northeast, then had Calum Haggett caught behind.

He had not played a first-class match since August last year, for Essex.

A first century of the summer from Joe Denly (126 not out) held Kent's innings together as they closed on 300-7.

Panesar, who has 50 Test caps for England and is now targeting selection for his country's winter tour to India and Bangladesh, returned to Northamptonshire after being released by Essex last year for "off-field" issues.

He later admitted to bouts of paranoia and lack of self-confidence.

Meanwhile, Northants included Jake Libby in their XI for the match against Kent after extending the batsman's loan spell from Nottinghamshire by a further two weeks.

Northants spinner Monty Panesar:

"I've really enjoyed my first day back. It was nice to get a good workload in. I was nervy first thing but I got some rhythm going.

"The first chance came at me harder than expected but the second chance was one of my best catches."

Kent batsman Joe Denly told BBC Radio Kent:

"It was a tough one, the pitch was pretty low consistently all day and tough to score with the fields they set.

"I felt in pretty good touch for most of the games, so it was nice to spend some time out in the middle and to get that first hundred [of the season].

"It's disappointing for a few of the lads to get starts and not go on with it.

"But I'm well set, hopefully the last few wickets can stick around for a bit and we can go on to get around 400."