Good old British bank holiday weather wiped out the morning session at the St Lawrence Ground but once the rain had moved onwards towards France play got underway at 2pm under overcast skies on a green-tinged pitch.
A century from the Leicestershire captain, Mark Cosgrove, has put the visitors in a strong position at the end of the truncated first day. Coming to the crease in the seventh over, the Australian batsman carefully played through a tricky period against the new ball. But as the day progressed his shots became more powerful and more expansive, and he even launched Darren Stevens back over his head twice in the same over. He was let off on 48 when an easy catch at first slip was put down by Matt Coles and his innings came to a slightly tame end when he mistimed a lofted drive off Adam Riley down the ground straight into the hands of the substitute fielder at long-on.
Both sides are looking for their first win of the 2015 season and Leicestershire desperately want to end the wait for their first win in over two seasons. While Kent entered this match as favourites on home soil they will be disappointed with their day’s work having won the toss.
Batting conditions did get easier as the sun broke through and the early swing disappeared but the Kent seamers were guilty of too many bad deliveries. Runs flowed easily throughout the two sessions, the run rate consistently at nearly five an over.
Coles, back home with Kent after an unsuccessful move to Hampshire, was easily the pick of the Kent bowlers picking up four wickets and consistently finding movement that the others could not. He has an impressive ability to move the ball away from the batsmen and then bring one back in, and it was his ability to swing the ball in that got him the wickets of Matthew Boyce and Ned Eckersley. They were both lbw to deliveries that pitched outside off and swung back in.
Kent’s decision to bowl looked like a good one when both Leicestershire openers fell within the first seven overs of the beginning of play. Matt Coles struck on the second ball of the day with a delivery that rose steeply, a thick edge off Angus Robson’s bat going straight into the hands of second slip. Coles got prodigious swing early on with the new ball and struck again six overs later with a swinging fuller delivery that had Boyce trapped for 17.
Eckersley, at three, played very fluently for his 67. He is very strong through the off side and Kent gave him plenty of deliveries which he assertively punched off the back foot and they sailed away across the lush Canterbury outfield. His 118-run partnership with Cosgrove ended when another in-swinger from Coles had him trapped in front.
There was an important contribution from Neil Pinner who was also part of a century partnership with Cosgrove, for the fourth wicket. Pinner made a run-a-ball half-century and displayed a pleasing array of shots playing with confidence throughout. His innings was ended by a superb rising delivery from Coles that caught the edge of his bat. Leicestershire reached 300 in the final over of the day and Neil Pinner said they were pleased with how the day had gone: “Once we got through the new ball, it flattened out a bit and we showed really good intent throughout the day. We were pouncing on the bad balls and making them count.”
