Zak Crawley took centre stage on the first day of what may be his final Kent appearance of the season as they dominated their LV= Insurance County Championship fixture against Nottinghamshire in Canterbury.

The Ashes star cashed in after being dropped when he was on two, making 158 from 153 balls before he was caught and bowled by Calvin Harrison (2-104), who was the visitors’ most potent bowler.

Daniel Bell-Drummond was Kent’s next highest scorer (60) in their 398-4 while Jack Leaning and Harry Finch were unbeaten on 54 and 42, respectively, at stumps.

Opener Crawley, 25, reflected: “I knew we had this in us.

“We have a good batting line-up and it was a good deck to bat on so we’re, obviously, very happy with the situation we’re in at the moment.

“Hopefully, we can kick on.”

Kent were barely recognisable from their side which lost by 321 runs at Trent Bridge in July.

Of the seven changes, Crawley was back from England duty - albeit he’s now due to captain his country in a One-Day series against Ireland this month - and there were debuts for spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Aron Nijjar, signed on loan from Essex.

The major talking point, however, was the ongoing absence of club captain Sam Billings.

He had taken a break from red-ball cricket earlier in the season and, although Billings was included in the squad, Leaning remained captain and Finch retained the gloves.

Nottinghamshire handed a debut to Sri Lanka’s Asitha Fernando (1-63), just 24 hours after he’d arrived in the UK.

It looked like a vital toss to win and Kent’s openers put on 95 in a partnership of almost diametrically opposed styles.

Crawley played like he was still in Ashes mode, riding his luck at times. He was put down by Dane Paterson at point in only the second over and responded by cracking Brett Hutton (0-73) for four consecutive fours in the third over.

He punched his way past 50 when he straight-drove Paterson (0-64) for four while Ben Compton, after one expansive early effort, got to 18 before he was bowled trying to reverse sweep Harrison four minutes before lunch.

Crawley brought up his century off exactly 100 balls when he nudged Lyndon James (0-21) to point for a single and reached 150 when he pulled Fernando for one through fine leg before Harrison somehow clung on to a violent drive to remove him.

On his knock, Crawley said: “I was just trying to be positive.

“I got a bit of luck early and made the most of it. It was doing a little bit.

“But I thought I’d take a punt and it came off, and I managed to get a score which I was very pleased with.”

Bell-Drummond was out to the very next delivery when he tried to hook Fernando and went to an acrobatic grab by keeper Tom Moores but Tawanda Muyeye pulled the final ball of the afternoon session for six to leave the hosts 260-3 at tea.

Crawley and Bell-Drummond ended up putting on 153 runs for Kent’s second wicket.

“He was very important,” Crawley said of Bell-Drummond. “He played really well.

“He was saying to me out there that he was struggling for rhythm but, by the end, he was really hitting it nicely.

“He got a bit unlucky with his dismissal but it was a really good knock.”

Muyeye and Leaning put on 59 for the next wicket before the former went for 35. Having edged Steven Mullaney (1-48) for four, he ran out of luck when he nicked the next ball to Harrison at slip.

But Finch joined Leaning to earn them a third batting point and Kent’s skipper brought up his half-century when he flicked Mullaney to third man for four in the penultimate over of the day.