Durham could face official England and Wales Cricket Board censure later today after board pitch inspector Philip Sharpe convened a Pitch Panel to investigate the Riverside pitch and the fall of 15 wickets on the opening day of Kent's LV Championship clash at the Chester-le-Street Test venue.

Having been dismissed for 146 inside 59 overs themselves, Durham then had Kent on the ropes at 43-5 after only 22 overs, which proved more than enough evidence for Sharpe to call up his Panel colleagues.

He said: "It was doing a little bit off the pitch all day, but come the end of the day I just thought it was doing a little bit too much for my liking.

"I've asked David Hughes to chair the panel and we will be joined by Chris Wood, the board's pitch consultant. The panel will take place after the close of play today."

Kent's players were unable to comment on the state of the surface until after tonight's hearing, but needless to say they will welcome the investigation.

Kent supporters will perhaps recall a similar scenario at The Mote in 2004 when Kent were docked eight championship points for preparing an unfit surface for their game against Gloucestershire.

Durham were the subject of a prior pitch panel in another four-day clash with Kent at Stockton-on-Tees in 2006 when, after a rash of wickets, Kent went on to win the game courtesy of near 'one-day style' innings by Darren Stevens, James Tredwell and Justin Kemp.

Ultimately, Durham escaped a points penalty on that occasion but the pitch was marked down as poor.