FOUR years ago Kent’s head coach of the day, John Wright, produced a pre-season wish list of five potential overseas signings.

India’s Rahul Dravid headed the roster, but the name in second spot was that of Simon Katich, a little-known left-handed Australian from Middle Swan near Perth.

It transpired that Wright signed his main man Dravid and Katich ended up signing for Yorkshire, but it was for his latest county Hampshire that Katich finally made his mark in Canterbury with a stunning century that left Kent with a mountain to climb.

Having secured a slender first innings lead of 23 Hampshire, inspired by a splendid unbeaten 125 from 29-year-old Katich, reached 191 for two by the half-way point of the match for an overall lead of 214.

With wizard spinner Shane Warne backed by an impressive battery of four seamers to hand, Kent will do well now to escape with a draw let alone open their Frizzell Division 1 win account.

Having seen James Adams caught behind then John Crawley run out by Rob Key’s direct hit when trying to steel an over-throw, Katich set out his stall to bat Kent out of the game.

With their skipper David Fulton incapacitated by a stomach bug, vice skipper Matthew Walker led the Kent side but there was little he could do to dislodge fellow left-hander Katich.

Having raced to his 50 from 54 balls he shouldered the responsibility of batting for the remainder of the day.

He scored freely, but carefully hammering poor balls over the ropes while reasonable deliveries were turned for singles.

He moved from 71 to 91 with 20 successive singles but, as if to prove his superiority, Katich then clipped a leg-side ball from Amjad Khan over the burger van positioned 20 yards back from the mid-wicket boundary for an imperious six.

His 118-ball century included five sixes and as many fours leaving Kent’s bowlers wondering where to safely bowl at him.

Earlier, Kent’s promising early position in the game continued to slip through their hands as they were dismissed for 305.

There were contrasting half-centuries from Matt Dennington and Darren Stevens, while Fulton manfully came in despite his illness to take his score on to 74 – but otherwise it was a below-par display.

Stevens, having had his run flow stemmed by Warne’s astute captaincy, chased and edged a wide one and Dennington skied an ill-judged pull having equalled his career-best.

Fulton edged to the wicketkeeper off Warne on the stroke of lunch after which the tail succumbed.

At one point it even appeared as though the hosts would miss out on a third batting bonus point, but Martin Saggers hit a belligerent 17 including a six off Warne that posted the three hundred and the point – as it transpired, it was the highpoint of Kent’s miserable day.

SCORECARD

Hampshire first innings

J H K Adams lbw b Saggers 0
M J Brown c Jones b Dennington 32
S M Katich run out (Stevens/Jones) 56
J P Crawley c van Jaarsveld b Dennington 0
K P Pietersen c van Jaarsveld b Dennington 1
S M Ervine b Saggers 18
A D Mascarenhas c Jones b Cook 9
T G Burrows b Khan 42
S K Warne not out 107
C T Tremlett c Walker b Cook 35
R J Logan b Patel 4
Extras 24

Total 328 all out after 73.5 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-61, 3-71, 4-79, 5-104, 6-121, 7-130,8-261, 9-307

Bowling: Saggers 19-4-64-2, Khan 15-2-82-1, Cook 16-4-62-2, Dennington 17-5-63-3, Stevens 3-1-13-0, Patel 3.5-1-28-1.

Kent first innings

D P Fulton not out 64
R W T Key b Ervine 20
M van Jaarsveld c Crawley b Tremlett 1
M J Walker lbw b Ervine 12
D I Stevens c Burrows b Logan 68
G O Jones c Pietersen b Ervine 6
M J Dennington c Crawley b Tremlett 50
S J Cook b Warne 4
M M Patel lbw b Warne 0
A Khan not out 5
M J Saggers lbw b Logan 17
Extras 48

Total 305 all out from 80.3 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-63, 3-93, 4-163, 5-226, 6-255, 7-271, 8-271, 9-283.

Bowling: Tremlett 14-2-61-2, Logan 15.3-3-59-3, Ervine 12-2-66-2, Mascarenhas 20-5-53-0, Warne 19-3-50-3.

Hampshire second innings

J H K Adams c Jones b Saggers 1
J P Crawley run out 25
S M Katich not out 125
M J Brown not out 34
Extras 6

Total 191 for two

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-97.

Bowling: Saggers 13-2-42-1, Khan 10-0-56-0, Cook 9-1-28-0, Dennington 6-0-25-0, Patel 13-0-34-0.