Deciding whether to bat or bowl first is not always a straightforward decision for a captain, but it is when the pitch is hard to distinguish from the outfield, and Sam Northeast was rewarded for calling correctly as his bottom-of-the-table Kent side bowled out their opponents for just 159.
It could, and perhaps should, have been even fewer. Three chances were dropped during a morning session which ended with Leicestershire on 109-4, and almost as galling for the visitors as the missed opportunities were the number of loose balls. When a pitch is acting as generous as this, every run can be vital.
In the end it was the seamer Matt Coles, as has usually been the case for Kent this season, who made the most of the conditions. Three of the morning wickets fell to him, with Matt Boyce well held at second slip, Ned Eckersley bowled and Angus Robson caught behind driving, and he picked up three more after the break, when the Kent bowlers stopped trying too hard to make things happen and let the pitch do its work.
Calum Haggett also bowled well, and economically to boot, and it was as well he did so after Ivan Thomas sustained a side-strain after just three overs, meaning he is unlikely to bowl again in the game.
Leicestershire played their part, with several batsmen contributing to their dismissals by throwing their bat at wide deliveries, though Aadil Ali, a 20-year-old academy graduate making his first-class debut, was an honourable exception, facing 58 balls before edging a Darren Stevens out-swinger to second slip where Coles took the catch, one of two to add to his final bowling tally of 6-55.
A career-best ‘seven-for’ beckoned, but Charlie Shreck, something of a walking wicket this season, somehow kept out three balls before Ollie Freckingham holed out off Haggett.
“We didn’t start particularly well as a bowling unit, but we dragged it back and finished the job off, and hopefully we can get some runs and get ourselves into a good position,” said Coles, who has now taken his wicket tally for the season to 48. “It didn’t really swing too much, but it was certainly nipping around and for a wicket to be as green as that in July is pretty ridiculous.”
Certain batsmen used less polite adjectives and, having lost both openers before the close, one suspects Kent would settle for any sort of first-innings lead.
