A MAIDEN championship century by Justin Kemp coupled with Matt Walker’s 17th first-class ton eased Kent into a commanding positions at the mid-point of their clash with Surrey.

At second day stumps the little and large partners had taken the visitors through to 408 for four in reply to Surrey’s first innings of 452 for eight declared.

The pair came together just before 4pm with the score at 202 for four following the loss of Rob Key (65) and Darren Stevens (0) in the space of eight balls on another sun-baked afternoon in Guildford.

And they were still together when stumps were finally drawn just before 7pm having posted a record fifth wicket stand against Surrey, beating the previous best of 202 by Wally Hardinge and Lionel Hedges at Blackheath in 1921.

Neither man gave a chance as Kent cantered along at 4.6 an over, easily out-pacing the hosts, as Walker went in unbeaten on 134 from 176 balls and with 18 fours and two sixes for his third century against Surrey.

At the other end Kemp reached the seventh first-class century of his career and easily his best for Kent (his previous top score was an unbeaten 32) which came from 125 balls and with 17 fours and six – he closed unbeaten on 114.

Both players were particularly harsh on leg-spinner Ian Salisbury who went for six an over from his 10 wicket-less overs.

It completed a day that had largely belonged to Kent, as they snaffled three quick wickets in the opening hour to spark a surprise declaration by home skipper Mark Ramprakash.

Overnight centurion Ali Brown went to only the sixth ball of the day as Amjad Khan used the second new ball to good effect by having Brown caught at the wicket.

Andrew Hall replaced Khan at the Railway End of the ground and also struck with his sixth delivery in having Azhar Mahmood leg before for 41 as he worked across the line of an off-cutter.

Ian Salisbury then edged to Niall O’Brien from a back foot force and the keeper took the chance at the second attempt to give Min Patel figures of there for 96.

Moments later and with five batting bonus points accrued, Ramprakash called his players in for a shock noon declaration that gave Kent’s openers an hour to survive through to lunch.

They almost made it in adding 58 for the first wicket but two balls before the interval David Fulton (39) nicked one to first slip.

Key and van Jaarsveld took up the attack after the break to add 64 in 13 overs before van Jaarsveld (36) edged a back-foot push to the keeper.

Having seen Ramprakash and Thorpe miss golden century chances the previous day Key ought to have taken more care once past 50, but on 65 he backed away to cut Nayan Doshi and chopped onto his own stumps.

In the very next over from Azhar and in a bid to get off the mark Stevens played across a full-length ball to go leg before.

Yet that was the starting point for the unbroken stand between Walker and Kemp that has added 206 to date and with power to add.

Kent seem likely to bat on well into day three then, with cloud cover forecast for Friday afternoon and Saturday, take their tilt at bowling Surrey out cheaply second time around.

SCORECARD

Surrey first innings

R S Clinton c Kemp b Cook 0
J N Batty c Walker b Patel 50
M R Ramprakash c O’Brien b Cook 97
G P Thorpe b Patel 95
A D Brown c O’Brien b Khan 107
R Clarke b Stevens 18
Azhar Mahmood lbw b Hall 41
I D K Salisbury c O’Brien b Patel 15
J Ormond not out 2
N D Doshi not out 0
Extras 27

Total 452 for eight after 117.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-4, 2-105, 3-238, 4-336, 5-382, 6-400, 7-449, 8-451.

Bowling: Khan 21-4-92-1, Cook 17-3-78-2, Hall 21.4-4-73-1, Kemp 17-0-60-0, Patel 30-6-96-3, Stevens 11-0-40-1, Key 1-0-5-0.

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Brown b Mahmood 39
R W T Key b Doshi 65
M van Jaarsveld c Batty b Ormond 36
M J Walker not out 134
D I Stevens lbw b Mahmood 0
J M Kemp not out 117
Extras 20

Total 408 for four after 87 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-58, 2-122, 3-201, 4-202.

Bowling: Mohammad Akram 17-2-71-0, Ormond 18-1-72-1, Azhar Mahmood 14-2-68-2, Clarke 9-0-53-0, Doshi 19-0-79-1, Salisbury 10-0-59-0.