During a fluctuating day, Kent's decision to bowl first looked wrong, then triumphantly justified, but at the end of a day of 15 wickets no one could predict the eventual outcome.

Only four overs were possible in the morning, before rain sent the players off, but there had been no great alarms for Durham in that time. After an early lunch, progress continued to be steady, and some of Kent's bowlers looked as if they had never bowled to left-handers previously, so many balls being leg-side or well wide of off stump.

But after the home side had got to 58 without loss, Kent turned to Robbie Joseph. Immediately he had Michael Di Venuto playing defensively at a good-length ball only to get a thin edge. Then he brought one back into Mark Stoneman, bowling the surprised batsman off what looked like an inside edge. In a six-over spell he took his two wickets for seven runs, before Durham inched forward again through Will Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The pair got to 86 in relative security before an unholy clatter of wickets, four falling for just five runs. There was a hint of thunder in the air, and that may have explained the dramatic swing for Amjad Khan and, especially, the returning Joseph. Smith, a batsman in great form, had been in for some time and presumably seeing the ball well, but twice he found only air as he drove strongly at balls of full length. The first, from Khan, went past the edge, to the anguish of bowler and close fielders. The second, from Joseph, plucked out his off stump.

Chanderpaul had already gone. A typically twitchy adjustment to a good ball moving across him could not prevent it going to second slip. Then followed an equally big wicket as Dale Benkenstein chopped on to the same bowler, Khan, while Phil Mustard was squared up and thick-edged to second slip - like his captain, falling for 0.

Paul Wiseman and Liam Plunkett convincingly added 40 in what may yet prove a key stand, before Martin Saggers bamboozled the tail, taking the last four wickets: two of them to edged outswingers, two to full-length inswingers. That said, Durham had been bowled out because of Joseph's key intervention earlier in the innings.

Durham's 146, however, looked competitive as their vaunted pace attack began to make inroads. Perhaps the most important of the five wickets they claimed was that of Joe Denly, the young opener who made a match-winning century here in the Friends Provident Trophy semi-final.

Denly was bowled comprehensively by an in-cutting ball from Mark Davies, whose place in the pecking-order of Durham bowlers has slipped recently. His return of 5-3-7-3 represented a strong comeback.

One of those wickets was that of Saggers, who had probably been sent in too early as night watchman. Having once played for Durham, he had received a good hand while claiming his four wickets. A gritty performance with the bat would have made it a dream return, but Davies cleaned him up in the penultimate over.

Scoreboard

Durham: First Innings
M J Di Venuto c Jones b Joseph 27
M D Stoneman b Joseph 22
W R Smith b Joseph 22
S Chanderpaul c Van Jaarsveld b Khan 10
*D M Benkenstein b Khan 0
P Mustard c Van Jaarsveld b Khan 0
P J Wiseman b Saggers 13
L E Plunkett c Jones b Saggers 21
C D Thorp c Tredwell b Saggers 6
G Onions not out 6
M Davies b Saggers 0
Extras (lb 7, w 1, nb 11) 19

Total (57.3 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-59, 3-86, 4-91, 5-91, 6-91, 7-131, 8-139, 9-146.

Bowling: McLaren 17-3-56-0; Khan 14-5-27-3; Saggers 14.3-6-26-4; Joseph 12-3-30-3.

Kent: First Innings
J L Denly b Davies 21
*R W T Key c Mustard b Thorp 4
N J Dexter lbw b Thorp 1
M van Jaarsveld not out 8
M J Walker lbw b Davies 3
M J Saggers b Davies 1
J C Tredwell not out 0
Extras (b 4, lb 1) 5

Total (5 wkts, 22 overs) 43

G O Jones, R McLaren, A Khan and R H Joseph to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-26, 3-26, 4-31, 5-43.

Bowling: Onions 6-2-12-0; Thorp 8-3-13-2; Davies 5-2-7-3; Plunkett 3-1-6-0.

Umpires: J W Holder and R T Robinson.