Kent bowled themselves back into contention with a flurry of wickets on day one of their County Championship clash at fellow strugglers Warwickshire.

In a crucial game, with both teams perched precariously above the Division 1 relegation zone, the home side prepared a green wicket.

They then won the toss and their seamers exploited the conditions to bowl Kent out for 165.

Only Jordan Cox (48, 69 balls) passed 40 as Hannon-Dalby took six for 40 and Henry Brookes three for 56.

Warwickshire struggled in turn and closed on 155-6, having leaned squarely on Sam Hain (68 not out).

India paceman Navdeep Saini had an eventful first bowl for Kent, his spell of 10-2-59-3 including some seriously quick away-cutters and 13 no-balls.

The match is finely balance going into day two after the visitors' fightback.

"We would have bowled first," said Kent fast bowler Matt Henry.

"We liked what the pitch looked like but it is a good wicket so it was probably the worst toss to lose.

"Credit to Warwickshire, they got it right with the ball and did some really good things up top and from there we were chasing our tails a little bit.

"Then more importantly the way we came out and bowled was exactly what we were after. We have got ourselves back in the game.

"It wasn't an ideal day by any means but we have got a lot of belief that we can come out tomorrow, have a good session in the morning and then get stuck in with the bat."

High-class bowling from Olly Hannon-Dalby put Warwickshire in charge before Kent hit back.

As leader of a severely-depleted seam attack, the pressure was firmly on the Yorkshireman to exploit the conditions.

He rose to the challenge with an opening spell of 7-4-15-5.

On potentially the hottest day ever in England, Warwickshire's decision to bat drew an incredulous reaction from their fans on social media...but those fans hadn't seen the pitch.

Hannon-Dalby struck third ball when Ben Compton nicked to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess and, after Kent advanced to 28-1, added two more wickets in four balls.

Daniel Bell-Drummond fell lbw and Joe Denly sliced a loose drive to second slip.

Hannon-Dalby won two more lbws: Jack Leaning and Zak Crawley who eked 17 from 53 minutes then fell, hit on the back leg, offering no shot.

Cox and Sam Billings added 72 in 20 overs before Hannon-Dalby returned to have the former caught behind.

After Billings (33, 71 balls) edged Brookes, Henry plumped for a spot of gung-ho.

He socked three fours and three sixes in a merry 34 (23 balls) before slogging Brookes to deep mid-wicket where sub fielder Kobe Herft took a superb catch.

Saini steered Brookes to second slip and Matt Quinn joined the list of Kent batsmen whose aggression contributed to their downfall when he chipped Danny Briggs to mid-off.

Kent hit back hard with three wickets in the first 10 overs as Dom Sibley, Alex Davies and Chris Benjamin edged into the cordon off Matt Milnes, Henry and Saini respectively.

Hain moved fluently to a 64-ball half-century and added 90 in 28 overs with Will Rhodes (32, 99 balls) before Kent struck three times in 17 balls.

Rhodes lifted Milnes to point and Dan Mousley and Michael Burgess edged Saini behind before Hain and Briggs gritted through the last 13 overs.