COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Canterbury:
Kent v Middlesex
5-8 August 2009
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY ONE: Middlesex 155 and 50-1, Kent 141 (Kent 3pts, Middx 3pts)

Kent's Stevens made the highest score on a day of 21 wickets at Canterbury

A staggering 21 wickets fell in the day - four of them run-outs - in a frenetic start to Canterbury Cricket Week.

Championship Division Two leaders Kent and rock-bottom Middlesex traded blows on a dry, grey pitch that only gave the pace bowlers a modicum of assistance.

But Middlesex were bowled out for 155, Amjad Khan and Azhar Mahmmod each taking three wickets.

Then Kent were also skittled, for 141, before Middlesex increased their lead in reaching 50-1 by the close.

Batting first after winning the toss, Middlesex shot themselves in the foot by suffering three run-outs.

Yet the visitors, being skippered for the first time in the Championship by Eoin Morgan after injury to captain Shaun Udal, were batting again before the close after earning a shock 14-run first innings lead.

And, in the 18 overs through to the late close (1900 BST), Middlesex did restore some semblance of batting normality.

Their only casualty second time around was Nick Compton, caught behind for 28, although his more watchful opening partner Sam Robson made just 3 in that time.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to the first day's action at Canterbury

It was otherwise a day the majority of batsmen would prefer to forget.

Indeed, in fending off obvious questions about the pitch, umpires Barry Dudleston and Michael Gough instead blamed poor shot selection and slack running between the wickets for the majority of the dismissals. And they will not be reporting the surface to Lord's.

It was a run-out to the fifth ball of the day that sparked this astonishing day of clattering wickets.

Robson, in seeking a third run to deep midwicket, had to be sent back by Compton only to be run out by Kent captain Rob Key's accurate 40-yard throw to the bowler's end.

Dawid Malan (2) and last man Steve Finn (0) also tossed their wickets away.

Malan fell to a direct hit from cover by Joe Denly, while Finn suffered the same fate after a shy at the stumps by Sam Northeast.

Had Kent held all their catches - they gave lives to top-scorer Gareth Berg (57no) and second-top scorer Murali Kartik (28) - then Middlesex would have been shot out sooner. But they combined to put on 52 for the seventh wicket in 10 overs.

Kent openers Denly and Key then found themselves taking guard less than an hour after lunch. But they too started disastrously when, in the fourth over, Key was also run out risking a short single.

Only three Kent players reached double figures, Darren Stevens top-scoring with a patient 67 from 86 balls, Tim Murtagh (3-26) proving the pick of the visiting attack.

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