Matt Parkinson and George Garrett both took three wickets as Kent restricted Hampshire to 213-7 on day one of their Vitality County Championship Division 1 clash at Canterbury.

Parkinson took 3-31 and Garrett 3-60 as relegation-threatened Kent exploited favourable bowling conditions. James Vince hit 88 for the visitors with Liam Dawson adding 31.

Parkinson said: “It was nice, it’s been a tough season for the boys and there haven’t been too many days in the championship where we’ve finished and said ‘yeah, that was a good one’, but that was good and I thought the seamers bowled well.

“We weren’t too sure about the pitch. The aim was obviously to make it a spin a bit more, it hasn’t spun too much all season so to pick up three wickets was fantastic. Vince’s class isn’t he? I’ve played against him for a long time now and he does make tough pitches look easy, so to get him was great.

“I think in general the boys bowled well. We probably didn’t get it right this morning as much as we should have but I thought after tea we looked fantastic.

“I think in September it is the time when as a spinner you think, please groundsman, can we have some spin? But as I’ve said it’s been a tough season and we’ve fielded so many overs, so to have only fielded 50 overs and taken seven wickets was great.”

After a delayed start, Hampshire opener Fletcha Midleton was bowled by Garrett for eight, playing the wrong line. Joey Evison then removed Toby Albert with his second ball for 11, playing on, before Nick Gubbins joined Vince. They put on 83 for the third wicket before Gubbins was caught behind off Garrett for 24.

When the light deteriorated, tea was taken at 3.10pm, with Hampshire on 135-3. Conditions improved significantly after the restart but Ben Brown tried to hook Garrett and was caught by Evison for nine.

Vince was on 77 when he pulled Evison to midwicket and although Joe Denly couldn’t take the catch, the former England man atoned with a brilliant diving one-handed grab when Vince tried to drive Parkinson through cover.

Parkinson then got Dawson, caught by Charlie Stobo at second slip, but Harry Finch missed a chance to stump James Fuller when he was on one. Fuller only added six more when Finch took his chance at redemption as Parkinson got one to turn and take the edge.

The players came off shortly after and play was eventually abandoned for the day at 5.47pm.