A battling display from Mark Ealham put Kent in charge of the Division One clash against Sussex at Tunbridge Wells.

Ealham hit an unbeaten 83 and Andrew Symonds weighed in with 89 as Kent made 383 to claim a helathy first innings lead.

In their second innings Sussex have made an encouraging start reaching 117 without loss with Richard Montgomerie unbeaten on 68.

Symonds guided Kent past the Sussex total before holing out to Jason Lewry off Robin Martin-Jenkins, but that brought Ealham to the crease and he struck 12 boundaries to put Kent in the driving seat.

He got off the mark by cutting Lewry away for four, and although support failed to materialise at the other end - with Paul Nixon, Min Patel and Amjad Khan all falling cheaply - Ealham did enough to get Kent into a winning position.

Montgomerie wasted no time in getting off the mark, driving for four through the covers to put the first runs on the board.

And four balls later Ben Trott dropped short and Montgomerie pulled him for four, one of 11 such boundaries in his innings.

Kent: D P Fulton (Capt), R W T Key, E T Smith, A Symonds, M J Walker, M A Ealham, P A Nixon (Wkt), B J Trott, M M Patel, M J Saggers, A Khan.

Sussex: R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, K J Innes, P A Cottey, M H Yardy, T R Ambrose, R S C Martin-Jenkins, M J Prior (Wkt), M J G Davis, R J Kirtley (Capt), J D Lewry.

Umpires: A A Jones and B Leadbeater