KENT took five wickets in the morning session, four of them to Martin van Jaarsveld slip catches, as their rain-ruined LV Championship match with Warwickshire got off to a dramatic start on the third day of asking in Birmingham.

Though a brief shower once again halted Kent's progress, they dominated the 27 overs that were possible on Thursday morning to reduce the hosts to 94 for five at the lunch interval.

Former England swing bowler Martin Saggers was responsible for removing both Warwickshire openers Darren Maddy (8) and Kumar Sangakkara (26) then Yasir Arafat, Ryan McLaren and Lasith Malinga bagged one apiece to leave the Bears in tatters.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, it was home skipper Maddy who became the first victim, caught behind by Geraint Jones after edging a defensive push shot.

Sri Lankan left-hander Sangakkara was then squared up by a Saggers leg-cutter which he nicked to second slip where van Jaarsveld took the first of his catches.

Jonathan Trott (10) then aimed an expansive drive at Yasir Arafat to again pick out van Jaarsveld and, after the loss of three overs to rain, Alex Loudon (14) drove loosely at McLaren only to see van Jaarsveld dive high to his right and claim a spectacular one-handed catch.

Then, in the lunch over, Tim Ambrose (2) pushed at a Malinga leg-cutter to edge to van Jaarsveld, who this time pocketed a regulation chance.

Matters might have been even worse for Warwickshire had Jones held on to a superb diving attempt to dismiss left-hander Jim Troughton.

Driving hard at McLaren, Troughton, on eight, got an inside edge that brushed Jones's right glove as he dived full-length to his right only for the ball to fly down to fine leg for a boundary.

Troughton went into lunch unbeaten on 22, but his side appear deep in trouble as Kent hunt down vital bonus points in their battle against relegation.

Lunch score: Warwickshire 94 for five after 27 overs.