KENT’S bowlers are getting sick of the sight of watching Warwickshire’s wicketkeeper Tony Frost bat.

The obstreperous gloveman from Stoke on Trent scored a stoic 82 to bat out a final day draw when these two sides met in the first game of the season in Canterbury.

And the 29-year-old was at it again in Birmingham yesterday, featuring in the first of two 50 stands of the day to rescue the reigning Frizzell Division 1 champions from total humiliation on a rain-affected opening day.

The hosts had been reduced to 52 for six after Nick Knight lost his eighth successive toss at 1.30pm and morning showers led to the loss of 32 overs, but recovered to reach the close on 178 for eight.

Poor shot-selection and a couple of decent deliveries led to the crash, before Frost teamed up with opener Michael Powell to add 62 in 22 overs for the sixth wicket.

Powell batted three hours for his 49 from 113-balls on a pitch that, despite giving some assistance to the seamers, never really played up.

Having played and missed half-a-dozen times Powell eventually edged a defensive push to slip to give Simon Cook, re-instated to the side having been rested for the win at Glamorgan, his third wicket of the day with a perfectly-pitched leg-cutter.

Frost’s resistance ended two runs and three overs later when ‘golden-arm’ Darren Stevens enticed him into a rash cut shot that flew high into Justin Kemp’s large hands at slip.

Cook, the pick of the Kent attack, had played second fiddle at the start of the day to leading wicket-taker Amjad Khan who took the prized wickets of Nick Knight and Ian Bell in successive overs.

Though he maintained good pace all day, Khan was occasionally guilty of over-doing the short ball and indeed wasting the new ball, yet he still took his season’s tally to 31.

Knight inside edged an off-cutter onto leg stump then Bell dragged an attempted pull to his second ball onto his wickets to make it 10 for two.

Jonathan Trott followed a Cook leg-cutter to edge to the keeper then Jim Troughton’s wild cut shot against Hall flew to Niall O’Brien.

Dougie Brown also aided and abetted in his own downfall, flashing at another short one from Khan to pick out the trusty Kemp at slip to bring together Frost and Powell.

The mood continued as the home comeback extended through to the close courtesy of an unbroken ninth wicket stand between Heath Streak and Neil Carter who added a half-century in 15 overs.

Carter was given a life on 14 when Matt Walker downed a diving chance at point to concede the single that posted the 50 stand, but otherwise the pair remained largely untroubled.

Stevens and Hall came back in a futile bid to break their partnership, whereas Kemp bowled just three overs of innocuous medium-pacers as the ninth wicket partners made it through to stumps.

SCOREBOARD

Warwickshire first innings

N V Knight b Khan 8
M J Powell c van Jaarsveld b Cook 49
I R Bell b Khan 1
I J L Trott c O’Brien b Cook 0
A G R Loudon c O’Brien b Cook 14
J O Troughton c O’Brien b Hall 1
D R Brown c Kemp b Khan 10
T Frost c Kemp b Stevens 23
H H Streak not out 36
N M Carter not out 25
Extras 11

Total 178 for eight after 67 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-8, 2-10, 3-13, 4-34, 5-39, 6-52, 7-114, 8-116.

Bowling: Khan 15-3-41-3, Cook 19-4-60-3, Hall 17-10-18-1, Stevens 11-3-33-1, Kemp 3-1-13-0, Patel 3-1-4-0.