A THIRD century of the summer from Martin van Jaarsveld saved Kent from total ignominy on the opening day of their championship clash with title-chasing Sussex at St Lawrence.

But for van Jaarsveld’s controlled innings of 116 from 171 balls Kent might have been rolled over for far less than their 241 total on a good Canterbury pitch.

As it was, the hosts still managed to vastly underachieve as Sussex moved to 102 for two by stumps to trail by 139 going into the second day.

The early loss of openers Rob Key and David Fulton, both to arguable leg before decisions against Jason Lewry, set the home side off to a poor start.

But then van Jaarsveld and Matt Walker dug in to add 149 runs in 42 overs for the third wicket and there were no signs of the collapse that would follow.

Walker reached 48 by sweeping Mushtaq Ahmed for four through square-leg but, in attempting to repeat the shot next ball up, he was smartly stumped by Matt Prior after missing a googly.

Van Jaarsveld, who passed 1,000 championship runs for the summer after reaching an 84-ball half-century, looked at total ease until he clipped one from Mushtaq to mid-on to spark a six for 58 return for the Pakistan wrist-spinner.

Thereafter Kent lost their last seven wickets for 26 runs in the space of seven overs.

Poor shot selection and a lack of concentration dogged the innings from and, to make matters worse, opening bowler Tyron Henderson was hit on the boot by a Yasir Arafat yorker.

After getting out for two, Henderson hobbled off to be told he had a broken toe and would take little part in the remainder of the game.

Having capitulated inside 70 overs Kent were fortunate to snare Richard Montgomerie and Carl Hopkinson leg before at the start of the reply, Robbie Joseph trapped both on the back leg.

But normal service was resumed after that as Chris Nash and Murray Goodwin dug in to reach 102 for two at stumps.

Goodwin, the ever-dependable Zimbabwean, looked completely untroubled in reaching 49 with seven fours against Kent’s injury-hit attack, while Nash, fresh from a maiden championship half-century against Hampshire, hit 31.

At this rate and with such a threadbare attack, this could transpire to be a long three-days for Kent.

SCORECARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton lbw b Lewry 3
R W T Key lbw b Lewry 15
M van Jaarsveld c Goodwin b Ahmed 116
M J Walker st Prior b Ahmed 48
D I Stevens c Adams b Ahmed 24
G O Jones lbw Ahmed 1
N J Dexter b Yasir Arafat 0
J C Tredwell not out 2
T Henderson b Ahmed 2
S J Cook c Adams b Ahmed 2
R H Joseph lbw b Arafat 1

Extras 26

Total 241 all out after 69.1 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-10, 2-27, 3-176, 4-215, 5-221, 6-222, 7-230, 8-234, 9240

Bowling: Lewry 15-1-38-2, Kirtley 11-1-43-0, Arafat 15.1-1-85-2, Martin Jenkins 6-2-12-0, Mushtaq 22-6-58-6.

Sussex first innings

R R Montgomerie lbw b Joseph 1
C D Hopkinson lbw b Joseph 3
C D Nash not out 31
M W Goodwin 49

Extras 18

Total 102 for two after 34 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-2, 2-5.

Bowling: Cook 9-4-13-0, Joseph 9-1-33-2, Dexter 6-0-25-0, Stevens 7-1-20-0, Tredwell 2-0-10-0.

Bonus points: Kent 1pt, Sussex 3pts.

* Mark Pennell's second day match report will appear here at the close of play this evening.