County Championship: Alastair Cook and Nick Browne make tons for Essex against Kent

Nick Browne (left) reached his 17th first-class century as he and Alastair Cook put on 220 for the first wicket

Centuries from openers Alastair Cook and Nick Browne gave Essex a strong start to their County Championship campaign against Kent.

But Kent rallied late in the day with some key wickets to peg Essex back to 262-4 from 220-0.

Earlier Cook (100) and Browne (107) batted together for more than two sessions before reaching their tons.

Both fell in the evening session along with Dan Lawrence (7) and nightwatchman Jamie Porter as Essex closed on 272-4.

New Australian paceman Jackson Bird (2-49) claimed the wickets of both centurions as first Browne was bowled misjudging an off-drive and then Cook gave a thin outside edge through to stand-in Kent captain Ollie Robinson behind the stumps.

But despite Kent being rewarded for their persistence with the ball late on, the day was dominated by former England captain Cook and right-hander Browne.

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Both went relatively untroubled on their way to three figures and Browne was first to the landmark.

His 17th first-class century was brought up with his 13th four. But shortly after he fell to Bird, Cook followed suit.

Cook's 70th first-class century and 37th in an Essex shirt was a characteristic effort off 266 balls, including 11 fours as he reached 100 with a trademark leg glance for a single off Matt Milnes.

However, when he was dismissed, England Test batter Lawrence departed soon after. Former Essex seamer Matt Quinn trapped him leg before as he offered no shot to a ball that nipped back from outside off stump.

Porter was also leg before first ball to Nathan Gilchrist but Essex captain Tom Westley will resume on 28, with debutant Matt Critchley (4 not out) alongside him.

Essex centurion Nick Browne:

"It's nice to bat for that length of time with Cookie. I'm so fortunate. Every other opener to the country would be sitting there envious of me. He instils calmness and the ability to concentration and keeping switched on.

"It's a shame we're still not there. I was a bit frustrated when I got out. It was one of my only mistakes. I pushed at the ball and it came back through the gate. It was a decent ball but I was frustrated that I didn't go on and score a really big hundred and make it count.

"But you take that when you're doing your sprints in the winter and if someone said you'd score a hundred in your first game here you'd back that. The way I see my job is to protect our talented middle order and if I can do that and score some runs as well then brilliant."

Kent head coach Matt Walker:

"It's always good to finish a day well. But we did well all day. The only thing that was missing was something in the wickets column. But we did enough to deserve a couple.

"Cook and Browne played very well. We tried everything, stuck to our plans and they gave us very little chance, but we kept plugging away. We knew if we stuck to our guns something would happen and eventually it came..

"Jackson's just off the plane and been here just under a week. He's been playing, you could tell that. He's a bit different. He bowled beautifully."