County Championship: Joe Root falls early but Adam Lyth puts Yorkshire in charge against Kent

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Adam Lyth.Image source, Getty Images
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Adam Lyth has made 25 first-class centuries, including one for England, but fell just short of a 26th

LV= County Championship Group Three, The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury (day one):

Kent: Yet to bat

Yorkshire 358-8: Lyth 97, Brook 54; Stevens 3-52

Kent 2 pts, Yorkshire 4 pts

England Test captain Joe Root fell for just 11 but Adam Lyth's classy 97 and a tidy tail-end effort helped Yorkshire establish control on day one of their County Championship match against Kent.

Root edged Matt Milnes' delivery behind to Ollie Robinson and the same pair removed Lyth three runs shy of his ton.

But a strong middle and lower order effort, led by Harry Brook's 54, lifted Yorkshire from 150-4 to 358-8.

Kent wicketkeeper Robinson took five catches as Darren Stevens claimed 3-52.

Veteran all-rounder Stevens, who turns 45 at the end of April, followed up his century in Kent's drawn opener against Northamptonshire with two important wickets after tea.

He trapped Dom Bess (36) lbw to break up the England spinner's half-century partnership with Jordan Thompson (34), who then edged Stevens behind to become Robinson's fifth victim of the day.

However, the Yorkshire tail continued to wag as skipper Steven Patterson (34no) and David Willey (25no) put on an unbeaten stand of 59 to earn the visitors a fourth batting point and make the maximum of five look a real possibility.

That will have been a relief to Root, who has been freed to play in the Championship for the first time in two years by the absence of any England duties until June, but is yet to find his feet back on the domestic scene.

He was out for 16 and 13 in Yorkshire's drawn opener against Glamorgan and failed to improve on those scores with his first attempt at Canterbury as the visitors slipped from 124-1 to 150-4 after starting well.

It was former England batsman Lyth, who last played for his country in the 2015 Ashes series, who led that quick start, his near-century coming off just 116 balls and including 15 fours in a display of controlled aggression.