Bowlers battle hard against Kent

Leicestershire versus Kent, Specsavers County Championship, Day 1:

SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE

HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the opening day's play are available HERE

LIVE | Ball-by-ball commentary available through the BBC HERE

REPORT | Daniel Bell-Drummond posted a fine century but Leicestershire's attack chipped away to restrict Kent to 227-7 on the first day of the Specsavers County Championship game at the Fischer County Ground.

Clint McKay and Wayne White each claimed a brace of wickets while Charlie Shreck and Neil Dexter also chipped in with one apiece.

This followed an unusual first dismissal of the day as Sean Dickson became the 60th batsman in first-class cricket to be out handled the ball.

Strangely, the last player to be given out in this manner in first-class cricket was also facing Leicestershire - Cheteshwar Pujara for Derbyshire in September 2014.

Sam Northeast opted to flip the coin and he called correctly, so Kent made first use of the wicket. Leicestershire showed one change to the side that beat Glamorgan as Zak Chappell came in for Jigar Naik.

The game got underway in front of a good crowd on the club's Open Day and there was a bizarre start to proceedings as Dickson departed in the second over.

A delivery from Ben Raine was rolling back towards the stumps and rather than flicking the ball away with boot or bat for a second time, which is permitted, Dickson halted its progress by using the glove in contravention of Law 33.

McKay and Raine continued to pose problems with the new ball but Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly defended stoutly and also recorded the odd boundary.

A double change was made with Shreck and White entering the attack and they both made an impact as Kent slipped from 42-1 to 48-4.

White bowled a beautiful first delivery, nipping one back sharply to take out Denly's off stump and Shreck produced a ball of similar quality at the end of the next over to disturb the off peg of Northeast (4).

Kent found themselves in further trouble in White's second offering as Darren Stevens clipped the seamer straight to Mark Cosgrove, who had positioned himself in front of square on the on-side.

Alex Blake (26) nudged a couple of deliveries down to the vacant third man boundary but the bowlers were on top and White had a huge lbw appeal against Bell-Drummond in the 20th over.

The opener survived and went on to strike a couple of lovely drives to the boundary through mid-on as well as clipping another four down to long leg as he progressed to 40 at lunch, the Foxes having used six bowlers following the introduction of Chappell and Neil Dexter.

Kent went in at 83-4 with Blake 17 not out after the batsman deflected another couple of boundaries down to third man and fine leg respectively.

There was an all-action period after the interval as Bell-Drummond progressed to a half-century (104 balls, 7x4) and Blake twice drove to the cover boundary as the stand passed 50 before the left-hander nicked McKay through to Niall O'Brien. 

Bell-Drummond hit three consecutive fours in the 40th over as he continued to impress and the score had moved to 133-5 after 42 overs when the players left the field due to a combination of bad light and rain.

'Keeper Rouse twice struck fours through the covers after play recommenced and the partnership passed 50 as the 'keeper pulled a three down to long leg.

Bell-Drummond continued to drive well on both sides of the wicket and the opener brought up his century from 161 balls with a 16th four, a stroke that beat a man stationed at deep cover point.

County badly needed to break a stand that had now moved into three figures and a double boost arrived shortly before tea. The first breakthrough came courtesy of the returning McKay as Rouse (38) nicked to Angus Robson, who took a sharp chance at second slip.

The key wicket was then taken by Dexter as the all-rounder pinned Bell-Drummond in front of the stumps in the penultimate over before tea for a superb 124. From 212-5, Kent went into the evening session on 226-7 with two new men at the crease in Calum Haggett and Matt Coles.

Two balls were bowled after tea before the players again left the field because of bad light and although they re-emerged, it was only for a brief period.

Leicestershire bowling figures: McKay 16-3-55-2, Raine 13-4-40-0, Shreck 15-5-50-1, White 10-2-37-2, Chappell 6-1-23-0, Dexter 6.3-1-10-1.

* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photograph of Wayne White in action yesterday.