James Anderson’s first day as Lancashire’s interim skipper was spoiled by Ben Compton and the rain as Kent dominated the first day of the County Championship match in Blackpool.
Having lost the toss, the visitors were 213-3 when heavy showers caused play to be abandoned shortly after the scheduled tea interval.
At that point, Compton was 86 not out and his 126-run stand with Tawanda Muyeye, who made 63, had been the centrepiece of the day. Anderson, on the other hand, might have been regretting his decision to insert Kent on what looks a true pitch.
Even in the first few overs of the day, the signs were not promising for Lancashire. Opening in place of Zak Crawley, Jaydn Denly batted with pleasant ease to put on 55 with Compton in exactly an hour before he top-edged a sweep off the spinner, Chris Green, and was well caught at deep square-leg by Mitchell Stanley for 34.
Daniel Bell-Drummond then made 13 before he edged George Balderson behind, where Matty Hurst took a good catch standing up to the stumps. However, Compton and Muyeye took their side safely to lunch, when Kent were probably reasonably content to be 105-2 after 33 overs.
Rain then prevented play for 90 minutes but Compton reached his half-century only four overs after the restart when he drove Anderson through mid-on for two. The Kent opener had faced 100 balls and had hit six fours to reach a landmark that also prompted a marked acceleration in the run rate.
Compton and Muyeye extended their third-wicket partnership to a hundred in only 19.5 overs although Lancashire had only themselves to blame for dropping Compton on 54, Jennings putting down a straightforward slip catch off Green.
Batting in a most enterprising fashion, Muyeye reached his own fifty off 66 balls and made light of the cloudy conditions that should have aided Anderson’s seam attack.
But Lancashire got the breakthrough they needed in the penultimate over before tea, when Muyeye, having made 63, sought to hit Balderson down the ground but only skied the ball to cover, where Stanley took his second catch of the day.
That ended Muyeye’s 126-run stand with Compton and as things turned out, the wicket fell 10 balls before rain forced the players off a couple of deliveries before the scheduled tea interval.
Umpires David Millns and Sue Redfern abandoned play at 17:20 BST with Compton 14 runs short of his fourth first-class century of the season and Jack Leaning unbeaten on four.
Balderson was the most successful Lancashire bowler with 2-37. Anderson bowled nine wicketless overs for 36 runs.
Lancashire came into this match between the bottom two sides in Division Two four points ahead of their opponents and as the only first-class county yet to record a Championship win this season. If the weather forecast is anything like accurate, they will have done well to change that situation come Wednesday evening.
Report supplied by the ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay
