HAVING packed their side with overseas signings Kent were indebted to the wiles of left-arm spinner Min Patel and winter recruit Darren Stevens as they continued their intriguing championship battle with Surrey in Tunbridge Wells.

While South Africans Justin Kemp and Andrew Hall went wicket-less and proved expensive on a slow and testing Nevill pitch, it was left to the county’s longest serving player Patel to restrict the visitors to 324 and a firs innings lead of 62.

Bowling almost throughout the morning session and well into the hottest afternoon of the summer to date, Patel bowled with flight and guile to bag six for 124 – his best Kent return since August 2001.

Surrey’s response was built around a staccato innings from England discard Rikki Clarke, who scored in fits and starts to plunder 124 in four hours with 17 fours.

He and Ali Brown (56) added 107 in 21 overs for the fifth wicket before the intervention of Stevens’ military medium pacers led Brown to slice a drive to cover.

It was all reminiscent of Kent’s first innings, a centurion, a half-century maker, in Brown, and very little else to show as Surrey’s batsmen showed the same lack of application as the hosts’ had.

With Stevens bowling a nagging length Surrey’s late order found it increasingly difficult to get the ball off the square as they lost their last five wickets for 25 runs in only nine overs.

Stevens bagged career-best first-class figures of three for 22, leaving Kent to bat 16 overs through to stumps.

They lost skipper David Fulton 15 minutes from the close to a skied pull off Mohammad Akram and closed on 37 for one and still trail by 25 going into the third day of four.

SCORECARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton lbw b Bicknell 45
R W T Key c Newman b Benning 112
M van Jaarsveld lbw b Bicknell 0
M J Walker b Bicknell 0
D I Stevens c Batty b Bicknell 1
J Kemp c Ramprakash b Benning 3
A J Hall c Ramprakash b Doshi 61
N J O’Brien lbw b Benning 1
S J Cook b Doshi 5
M M Patel c Clarke b Doshi 3
M J Saggers not out 5
Extras 26

Total 262 all out after 92.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-112, 2-112, 3-114, 4-118, 5-129, 6-229, 7-233, 8-245, 9-251.

Bowling: Bicknell 24-10-31-4, Akram 20-6-51-0, Doshi 13.4-1-58-3, Clarke 12-2-45-0, Benning 16-1-57-3, Salisbury 7-2-16-0.

Surrey first innings

S A Newman st O’Brien b Patel 21
R S Clinton not out 15
M R Ramprakash c van Jaarsveld b Patel 4
R Clarke c Cook b Patel 124
J N Batty c O’Brien b Patel 34
A D Brown c Hall b Stevens 56
J G E Benning lbw b Patel 14
M P E Bicknell b Patel 2
I D K Salibury c O’Brien b Stevens 3
N D Doshi c Key b Stevens 16
M Akram not out 1
Extras 16

Total 324 all out after 91 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-57, 2-65, 3-67, 4-166, 5-273, 6-299, 7-302, 8-305, 9-323.

Bowling: Saggers 18-3-53-1, Hall 10-0-40-0, Cook 9-0-48-0, Patel 38-5-124-6, Kemp 3-024-0, 13-4-22-3.

Kent second innings

D P Fulton c Benning b Akram 18
R W T Key not out 18
M J Saggers not out 0
Extras 1

Total 37 for one after 16 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-36.