County Championship: Darren Stevens gives Kent upper hand over Glamorgan
- Published
Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens celebrated his 42nd birthday on Monday
Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens (day one): |
Glamorgan 94: Stevens 6-26, Henry 4-31 |
Kent 163-9: Van der Gugten 6-40 |
Kent (3 pts) lead Glamorgan (3 pts) by 69 runs |
Veteran Kent seamer Darren Stevens destroyed Glamorgan with a six-wicket spell after lunch as they slumped from 57-0 to 94 all out at Sophia Gardens on day one.
But Timm van der Gugten then claimed county-best figures of 6-40 as Kent were restricted to 163-9.
Stevens (6-26) and paceman Matt Henry (4-31) were almost unplayable in cloudy conditions, rookie opener Jack Murphy battling through for 39 not out.
Kent led by 69 runs at the close.
Their fourth-wicket stand of 78 between Joe Denly (43) and Zak Crawley (33) was the highest of the day as the bowlers dominated sessions two and three, despite Glamorgan openers Murphy and Nick Selman (33) batting through the morning session.
Glamorgan's Timm van der Gugten told BBC Sport Wales:
"A very strange day. The openers batted pretty well through the first session and then everything went pear-shaped. It's one of those wickets where as a batter you're never in, so hopefully we can take this last wicket early and have a big second innings.
"It's been a long road to recovery after (injuries) last season, I wasn't bowling right for six months so it's good to get some rhythm back."
Kent's Darren Stevens told BBC Radio Kent:
"The first hour we didn't get one by the bat, then all of a sudden it started doing a little bit and the ball started nibbling around with nearly 20 wickets in the day. Basically I keep it as simple as possible, try to feel a batsman out and then bowl to his weaknesses."