KENT recovered from the early loss of their skipper to approach lunch in good shape on day one of their 154th Canterbury Week match with Sussex in Canterbury.

The home second-wicket pair of Alex Loudon (23) and Ed Smith (73) rallied after the sixth-over loss of David Fulton to reach 113 for one after 30 overs.

Having won the toss and elected to bat in steamy, oppressive conditions, Fulton had reached just four when he played around a good-length ball from James Kirtley to go leg before and make it 15 for one.

Fellow opener Ed Smith appeared in impressive form spanking five boundaries on his way to 30 but, with his score on 31, he received a life when Murray Goodwin downed a comfortable gully chance off the unfortunate Kirtley.

Having dropped Michael Carberry, Kent promoted Alex Loudon to bat three but the 23-year-old appeared nervous in his new role, playing and missing several times.

He finally settled in, playing some well-timed drives against the seamers though the tall right-hander still looked uneasy against the spin of Mushtaq Ahmed.

At the other end Smith made the most of his ‘life’ to crack 13 boundaries in his two-hour stay to date as he and Loudon added a century in 26 overs.

Kent went into the game without England players Geraint Jones and Rob Key, as well as fast bowlers Martin Saggers (knee) and Ian Butler (thigh).

Antiga-born Rob Joseph, 22, was given a home debut and will form an inexperienced new ball attack with England Under-19 seamer Simon Cusden.