Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury (day one)

Kent 238: Bell-Drummond 52, Northeast 43, Benjamin 40; Taylor 3-55

Worcestershire 80-2 (20.5 overs): Lategan 35, Hose 24; Mahmud 2-29

Worcestershire 3 pts, Kent 0 pts

Match scorecard

Worcestershire shaded day one at Canterbury as they bowled Kent out for 238, before reaching 80-2 at the close.

Opening bowler Tom Taylor took 3-55 for the visitors, while young wicketkeeper Henry Cullen took five catches.

On a potentially pivotal day in the County Championship Division Two promotion race, fourth-placed Worcestershire won the toss and chose to bowl against second-placed Kent under leaden skies.

The Pears then got discarded England opener Zak Crawley cheaply in only the fourth over when he edged Ben Allison to second slip.

Adam Hose initially dropped him, before sticking out his hands to grab the ball just before it hit the turf.

Captain Daniel Bell-Drummond was Kent’s top scorer with 52, well backed by Sam Northeast (43) and former Warwickshire man Chris Benjamin (40), but the hosts collapsed in the evening session, losing their last five wickets for just 25 as seamers Allison, Matthew Waite and Adam Finch all ended up with two scalps each.

Hasan Mahmud then took two wickets in two balls to reduce the visitors to 26-2. But they recovered with an unbroken stand of 54 between Dan Lategan (35*) and Hose (24*).

Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.