Glamorgan edge low-scoring first day as Kent fold
Timm van der Gugten's three-wicket spell was a key part in Kent's collapse
- Published
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)
Kent 155 (53.2 overs): Bell-Drummond 42; Van der Gugten 3-27, Harris 3-35
Glamorgan 125-4 (42 overs): Ingram 32*; Agar 3-29
Glamorgan 3 pts, Kent 1 pt
Glamorgan edged day one against Kent as they ground their way to 125-4 in reply to the visitors' modest 155 all out, which featured a spectacular collapse.
Timm van der Gugten and James Harris took three wickets each as Kent lost their last six wickets for seven runs in the afternoon.
Daniel Bell-Drummond top-scored with 42, while the visitors suffered the loss of Joe Denly who hobbled off with a calf injury after making 17.
But Australian Wes Agar led a disciplined reply from the Kent attack with three wickets in the home reply, with Colin Ingram's 32 not out the top score in a long evening session.
It was a hard-fought day with the Kookaburra ball and a slowish wicket keeping scoring rates down.
Glamorgan were led by Kiran Carlson in the absence of former Kent man Sam Northeast on paternity leave, with Billy Root, Asitha Fernando and Ned Leonard coming into the side while the visitors recalled Chris Benjamin, Joe Denly and Grant Stewart.
There seemed little early difficulty for the Kent openers as they dispatched the Kookaburra ball to the boundary regularly, before the in-form Ben Compton edged a catch behind off Fernando for 17, while Jaydn Denly drove James Harris to cover for 29.
He was replaced by his uncle Joe Denly, but Denly senior's second Championship appearance of the season was ill-fated as he survived a chance to short leg off Timm van der Gugten, only to get injured setting off for a single at 81-2.
Chris Benjamin and Bell-Drummond steered them to a solid position of 111-2 at lunch, but when Benjamin was judged lbw to spinner Ben Kellaway for 23, the Kent innings stalled and eventually fell apart in mid-afternoon.
Van der Gugten removed Joey Evison for 14, Harry Finch also caught behind for one and Matt Parkinson first ball, while Harris got the key wicket of Bell-Drummond leg-before as Carlson rotated the bowling frequently and effectively.
Zain Ul Hassan's second ball dismissed Agar and Harris had Matt Quinn caught behind as the last three failed to contribute, with Grant Stewart left stranded as Joe Denly was not fit to reappear.
Kent's bowlers started in disciplined fashion as Agar bowled Asa Tribe off bat and pad, while Carlson's counter-attack was ended by Matt Quinn finding the edge of his bat after he raced to 27 off 25 balls.
Root (8) tried to dig in on his seasonal debut but found an attempted pull off Agar somehow flying to Benjamin who took a fine catch at slip, and Agar then ended Ul Hassan's long vigil on 27 with a vicious bouncer which brushed his gloves for Finch to take.
Ingram hit Evison for six early on but he and Kellaway (23 not out) mostly reined in their shots in the last hour of a day which failed to produce an individual half-century or a 50 stand.
Glamorgan assistant coach David Harrison told BBC Sport Wales:
"The pitch is a bit slower than we thought, it's the pitch we played on against Leicestershire in the first game with quite a bit of carry and bounce, but maybe the Kookaburra ball has changed that a little bit so it was quite slow and hard to score if you bowled well.
"They won the first session but the way we came out after lunch as a bowling group to build pressure was superb, with a bit of reverse swing to make it an unbelievable session.
"The partnership between Colin and Ben soaked up a bit of pressure, so if we can start well (on day two) we can try to push on for a big first innings lead."
Kent director of cricket Simon Cook told BBC Kent Sport:
"It's been an interesting day and an interesting pitch, at the start of the day we didn't know how it was going to play. It was patchy and cracked with a bit of movement in the plates so we would have had a bowl if we'd won the toss.
"We fought well with the bat before that unfortunate collapse, but the way the guys fought (with the ball) in that last long session was really good.
"If we'd taken a chance to get Ingram we'd have been really happy, Ingram is the key batter so if we can get him early we'll be well in the game.
"Wes has been doing a lot of work on technical stuff to get his zip back, and that's the quickest I've seen him bowl for a long time."