Yorkshire bowlers on top after opening session at St Lawrence

Kent v Yorkshire LV= County Championship Division 1, Day 1
By Mark Pennell
Table-topping Yorkshire picked up their first bowling bonus point and made Kent“s batsmen to struggle on the opening day of championship cricket at St Lawrence this summer.
Kent went in at the break on 90 for three having faced a stern examination from the Yorkshire attack in the opening two hours of the game. Batting first after winning the toss Kent made a reasonably bright start in sunny, yet chilly conditions, but cloud cover soon arrived to make batting that little bit more tricky.
Having helped post 28 for the first wicket skipper Rob Key went for five after an excellent delivery from Huddersfield-born paceman Ajmal Shahzad. The right-armer got one to lift and hold its line down the Nackington Road slope to graze the outside edge, keeper Jonathan Bairstow claimed the catch at the second attempt.
Fellow opener Joe Denly played with his accustomed freedom in cracking four fours in his 70-minute stay as he and Geraint Jones added 46 in 19 overs.
The introduction of slow left-armer David Wainwright led to two cover driven fours from Jones from his opening two deliveries but Wainwright“s fourth ball, a slow looping delivery, enticed Denly (32) into a loose drive that picked out Joe Sayers at short extra cover to make it 74 for two.
With his score on 24 from 32 balls Jones drove airily at England seamer Tim Bresnan only to see Jacques Rudolph at first slip parry the tough overhead chance for four runs to third man. The let-off counted for nothing, however, when Jones dragged the next ball onto off-stump to go for 28.
Sam Northeast and Martin van Jaarsveld (10) combined forces thereafter and, with the return of the sunshine coupled with the hardness going off the new ball, managed to survive through to lunch. Batting was never easy mind, Northeast stayed there for 40 minutes without getting off the mark.
Kent made only one change to the team that lost to Nottinghamshire in their opening match of the championship campaign, bringing in off-spinner and batsman James Hockley in the place of seam bowler Phil Edwards.
Kent team: Denly, Key, Jones, van Jaarsveld, Northeast, Stevens, Hockley, Tredwell, Mahmood, Khan, Coles.