CANTERBURY

Day two of four (Hampshire won toss)

Hampshire 367 all out (Carberry 93, Arafat 6-86). Kent 241-3 (Van Jaarsveld 25*, Tredwell 14*, Tahir 2-42).

Lunch

Kent seized the initiative back on a humid morning with Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood taking the second five wickets for just 55 runs in 15 overs. Arafat took three wickets to finish with 6-86, his best figures for Kent in all competitions.

Once Dimitri Mascarenhas had his off stump removed in the third over of the day, completely defeated by a ball that held its line up the slope from Arafat, Hampshire disintegrated.

Chris Tremlett and Imran Tahir both edged Azhar Mahmood’s more gentle banana like away-swing to Martin van Jaarsveld, at second slip and never looked like doing anything different.

In between, David Balcombe played a curious back foot slap that spooned straight to mid-off.

Arafat wrapped up the innings by removing the left-handed James Tomlinson’s off stump as he played down the Canterbury West line.

Kent had what could have been a tricky forty minutes to negotiate. A cooling breeze was strengthening by the time the teams re-emerged ten minutes later. The ball swung still and Joe Denly appeared to be a very lucky young man after pushing forward and edging the second ball of the innings to the wicket keeper, only to survive because it was a no ball.

Rob Key edged short of the slips twice, but after clipping Tremlett through mid-wicket and then to fine leg for successive fours in the third over, Kent motored.

Denly cut and clipped two rank balls from Balcombe, from the Pavilion End.