Among cricket's many and varied skills, the art of catching a fast-travelling ball is all too rarely highlighted and often underrated.

Those enjoying a sunny Sunday at the St Lawrence Ground yesterday had Martin van Jaarsveld - one of the most prolific catchers in the game - to remind them of its capacity to decide a match as much as a big hundred or a bag of wickets.

An excellent last wicket stand of 69 by Yasir Arafat and Martin Saggers had built on the eighth wicket alliance of 91 between Arafat and his determined captain, Rob Key, and put Kent into a stronger position than they could have expected when they resumed still 112 adrift at 298 for six.

Then came van Jaarsveld's hat-trick of superlative pouches at second slip, hammering home Kent's 57-run lead advantage and setting Yorkshire on a second innings slide they seemed powerless to halt. The first, down by his ankles, was made to look easy; the second was plucked out of the air to his right from a flashing edge while the third, and best, was astonishingly taken left-handed inches from the turf.

Yet the influence on proceedings of van Jaarsveld, one of the few cricketers to average almost one-and-a-half catches per match in his first-class career (when one per match is unusual), was not finished.

Given a short spell of off-spin from the Nackington Road end, he then split a stubborn, positive, fifth wicket partnership of 84 between Jacques Rudolph and Gerard Brophy by tempting the left-handed Rudolph into a drive and having him caught at slip.

Four overs later, Brophy edged behind off the returning Arafat after reaching 51 from 62 balls, and Kent's day got even better when both Adil Rashid and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan let themselves down with, respectively, a wild edge to Justin Kemp at first slip and a careless carve to point.

As the Yorkshire second innings subsided without even a whimper to 196 all out, Kemp produced three catches of his own at first slip - the first two at comfortable height but the last wonderfully held low and left-handed to give Arafat a four-wicket haul to add to his earlier unbeaten 90 from 126 balls.

Key, who began the day on 122 after standing firm on Saturday while Kent slumped from 203 for one to 261 for six, lost Azhar Mahmood early on but then found an ideal ally in Arafat, whose position at number nine only serves to underline Kent's enviable batting depth.

So fluently did they bat that it was a shock when Key somehow failed to pad away a legside delivery from Rashid and saw it bowl him behind his legs. He had fought for 350 minutes, however, hitting 16 fours from 258 balls.

Rashid, the 20-year old leg-spinner, earned himself a five-wicket analysis by flummoxing Robbie Joseph, but he then suffered at the hands of both Arafat and Saggers as the tide of the contest began to flow inexorably towards Kent. They have batted, bowled - and caught - with a collective excellence that has left Yorkshire on the ropes.

Yorkshire: First Innings 410 (A McGrath 144, J A Rudolph 129, A Lyth 50; Azhar Mahmood 6 for 55)

Second Innings
A W Gale c G O Jones b Tredwell 36
A Lyth c Van Jaarsveld b Arafat 8
*A McGrath c Van Jaarsveld b Azhar 25
J A Rudolph c Azhar Mahmood b Van Jaarsveld 47
G S Ballance c Van Jaarsveld b Saggers 5
G L Brophy lbw b Arafat 51
A U Rashid c Kemp b Joseph 4
T T Bresnan c Kemp b Joseph 2
Naved-ul-Hasan c Denly b Arafat 8
M J Hoggard not out 0
G J Kruis c Kemp b Arafat 3
Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 1, nb 2) 7

Total (51.1 overs) 196

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-68, 3-72, 4-89, 5-173, 6-176, 7-182, 8-193, 9-193.

Bowling: Azhar Mahmood 10-1-36-1; Yasir Arafat 9.1-2-38-4; Tredwell 13-4-51-1; Van Jaarsveld 4-0-10-1; Saggers 8-2-32-1; Joseph 7-1-25-2.

Kent: First Innings (overnight 298-6)
J L Denly lbw b Hoggard 48
*R W T Key b Rashid 157
J C Tredwell c Gale b Rashid 48
M van Jaarsveld b McGrath 3
D I Stevens c Rudolph b Rashid 3
J M Kemp c Rudolph b Rashid 12
G O Jones lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan 10
Azhar Mahmood c Brophy b Bresnan 23
Yasir Arafat not out 90
R H Joseph c Rudolph b Rashid 2
M J Saggers c Brophy b Bresnan 33
Extras (b 3, lb 14, nb 21) 38

Total (121 overs) 467

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-203, 3-208, 4-211, 5-235, 6-261, 7-305, 8-396, 9-398.

Bowling: Hoggard 14-0-57-1; Naved-ul-Hasan 19-1-102-1; Kruis 21-3-82-0; Bresnan 25-2-51-2; A U Rashid 35-2-140-5; McGrath 7-1-18-1.

Umpires: T E Jesty and R A Kettleborough.