CANTERBURY

Day one of four (Hampshire won toss)

Hampshire 312-5, 96 overs (Pothas 47*, Mascarenhas 6*, Arafat 3-59)

Lunch

Michael Carberry and Michael Lumb rescued Hampshire from the perils of 20 for two in the fifth over, with an unbroken stand of 97 in 24 overs.

Carberry needed the runs, having been dropped for the last game, after making 12 runs in his last five first class innings. He was recalled this morning because John Crawley withdrew with lower back spasms.

But no batsman has prospered for Hampshire this season in the Championship. Crawley has just 416 runs at an average of 27.73 and no one with more than 170 runs is averaging over 40.

That is why, despite the eleven wickets of Imran Tahir at Old Trafford last week, they remain second from bottom and one of the favourites for relegation.

Yasir Arafat, swinging the ball away from the right-hander at a good pace, made early inroads for Kent. Michael Brown hitting to leg was leg before in the third over and the left-handed Sean Ervine, averaging just 20, had his middle stump removed by a ball coming back through the gate.

Carberry and Lumb both drove crisply and helped by a succession of no-balls were 51 off ten overs. Lumb survived what sounded like an inside edge onto pad to the keeper off Ryan McLaren on 24, with the score 68. But otherwise both batsmen were in control.

Tea

Michael Carberry and Michael Lumb were on the verge of the county’s best partnership of the season and getting the monkey’s off their back when Ryan McLaren got them both in successive overs. It left the game in the balance at tea.

Lumb and Carrberry reached fifty in the same over after lunch, Carberry with a powerful cover drive, off Yasir Arafat. Carberry looked vulnerable pulling and was dropped, off Arafat, on 56, by Robbie Joseph, diving to right at long leg.

But both scored fluently and took fifteen off an over of James Tredwell’s off-spin, Carberry hitting a straight six into the pavilion.

Ryan McLaren, mean and threatening all day, returned from the Nackington Road End and had Lumb caught at first slip slashing for 73 off 156 balls. It broke a stand of 181 in 50 overs.

Lumb has not scored a first class hundred since the one he got against Hampshire for his old county, Yorkshire, in July 2006.

Carberry followed in McLaren’s next over, leaving reluctantly, after being given out for thin-edging a drive to the keeper. He fell seven short of a first Championship hundred of the season against his old county with his 93 coming off 179 balls. It may be enough to keep Carberry in the side when John Crawley returns, but on a good pitch it was short of match-defining innings.

Close

Hampshire ground out the last session to finish ahead at the close. Chris Benham was only batsman out after tea, edging a back foot defence to the keeper, in the 87th over and Arafat’s third over back with the new ball. Benham, in good touch, made 49 off 107 balls with just two boundaries.

Nic Pothas, the Hampshire wicket-keeper, was similarly restrained finishing with an unbeaten 47 in 106 balls. Given Hampshire’s fragility this season it was not surprising that Dimitri Mascarenhas, the captain, concentrated solely on survival and consolidating Hampshire’s position.

Eighty-nine runs were added in 32 overs in the session.