Kent v Surrey

EVEN Harbhajan Singh's distinctive black patka shook in disbelief when the Surrey spinner and his team-mates inspected the St Lawrence pitch prior to the start of their crucial LV Championship relegation clash with Kent in Canterbury.

A Festival Week wicket smothered in relatively long grass is as rare in these parts as a pint of Yorkshire Best, but that was the surface Kent elected to play their fellow Division 1 strugglers on, and ultimately they paid a heavy price after being dismissed inside 61 overs for a paltry 150.

Come the close, the Brown Caps had eased towards parity in reaching 148 for four, and it is the eighth-placed visitors who will be happiest with their first day's work.

Batting first having won the toss on the pitch of their choice, Kent made a reasonably bright start in ideal, sunny conditions.

Joe Denly tucked in against the openers to hit 12 with two fours, but once the hardness went off the new ball so scoring became increasingly difficult.

Denly went in the eighth over, playing inside the line of a Jimmy Ormond leg-cutter that grazed off stump to make it 17 for one.

A near 4,000 crowd remained subdued as three more went before lunch; Martin van Jaarsveld (22) caught at the wicket off 18-year-old debutant Chris Jordan, then Matt Walker (0) who chipped one that stopped marginally to square leg.

Then, in the penultimate over before the break, Darren Stevens toe-ended a sweep shot against Singh to be well held by Batty stood up.

The bubble of confidence surrounding Kent's Twenty20 final win surely burst after the interval when they lost their last six wickets for 48 in the space of 18 overs.

Geraint Jones (10) appeared to misread a Harbhajan top-spinner, then James Tredwell (13) nicked to the keeper to become the first of two victims for Matt Nicholson.

Though their captain Rob Key batted with admirable responsibility to carry his bat with 75 from 176-balls, no one appeared keen on keeping him company and Kent's last four batters added only four runs between them as Singh ran through the tail to finish with five for 34.

It all looked a different story later in the day when Surrey batted and the Kent attack struggled to make inroads.

Batty played around a full-length ball to go leg before for seven to give Lasith Malinga his maiden championship wicket for Kent on debut, Scott Newman (57) went in similar fashion to Ryan McLaren then Mark Butcher (49) rocked back to edge a lifting ball from James Tredwell to the keeper.

Just before stumps Tredwell removed Stewart Walters (2) to a bat-pad catch at square leg by Denly, but with the prolific Mark Ramprakash unbeaten on 57 Surrey have a mighty power to add come day two.

Scorecard

Kent first innings
J L Denly b Ormond 12
R W T Key not out 75
M van Jaarsveld c Batty b Jordan 22
M J Walker c Ramprakash b Jordan 0
D I Stevens c Batty b Singh 2
G O Jones b Singh 10
J C Tredwell c Batty b Nicholson 13
Yasir Arafat c Butcher b Singh 4
R McLaren lbw b Singh 0
S L Malinga b Nicholson 0
M J Saggers b Singh 0
Extras 12

Total 150 all out after 60.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-17, 2-61, 3-63, 4-66, 5-102, 6-133, 7-138, 8-138, 9-139.

Bowling: M J Nicholson 15-4-48-2, J Ornmond 13-6-19-1, C J Jordan 13-3-41-2, H Singh 19.4-5-34-5.

Surrey first innings

S A Newman lbw b McLaren 57
J N Batty lbw b Malinga 7
M R Ramprakash not out 57
M A Butcher c Jones b Tredwell 19
S J Walters c Denly b Tredwell 2
J Ormond not out 0
Extras 6

Total 148 for four after 43 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-14, 2-93, 3-138, 4-146.

Bowling: Arafat 8-1-42-0, Malinga 7-0-40-1, McLaren 9-2-23-1, Saggers 10-1-30-0, Tredwell 6-2-11-2, Stevens 3-2-1-0.