KENT dominated a rain-shortened second day at Trent Bridge where the visitors reduced Nottinghamshire to 169 for nine before showers bought a halt to proceedings at 4.15pm.

Responding to Kent’s battling 301 of day one, Nottinghamshire made a decent fist of the reply as skipper Jason Gallian and Darren Bicknell rode their luck to post 51 for the first wicket.

Kent were guilty of bowling too short in the opening exchanges, enabling both home openers to pick off the runs but a short delay for rain allowed the attack to re-group while crucially interrupting the concentration of the batsmen.

Carnage ensued thereafter as Nottinghamshire lost nine wickets for 119 runs in the space of 41 overs with winter recruit Simon Cook taking Kent-best figures of four for 38 from 14 overs.

It was Cook who made the opening breakthrough having Gallian caught behind by Niall O’Brien when trying to withdraw the bat from a lifting ball just outside off stump.

The stylish Anurag Singh looked untroubled in reaching 11, but Martin Saggers got one to rear from the Pavilion End for Andrew Hall to take an overhead catch well back at slip.

Having survived one huge shout for a catch at the wicket off Hall, Stephen Fleming went on to 23 before a miscued pull against Amjad Khan looped to David Fulton at mid-on to make it 118 for three.

Bicknell, who had been the more aggressive of the openers, was dropped off a skier at mid-wicket when on 36 and went on to reach his 50 from 85 balls before a run out ended his stay.

David Hussey pushed the ball to mid-off and fancied his chances of beating Fulton to the single, but on realising the Kent skipper was left handed, Hussey sent Bicknell back only to leave him stranded once the throw shattered the non-striker’s stumps.

One run and two balls later Cook nibbled on off the seam to brush Chris Read’s outside edge for van Jaarsveld to complete the dismissal at second slip.

With his sights now set, Cook struck again in his next over as Hussey (23) followed one outside off to edge to the keeper then, three balls later, he bagged former Kent star Mark Ealham for a duck.

The stocky right-hander was again teased by a lifting leg-cutter that he edged to the dependable van Jaarsveld.

Hall took his first wicket for the county by having Samit Patel caught on the hook down at long leg by Khan, then just before tea Ryan Sidebottom’s weak back-foot force flew to Cook at mid-off to give Khan figures of two for 38.

The rain that led to an early tea after 57 overs forced the abandonment later in the day, leaving the players time to watch the FA Cup penalty shoot out in the dressing rooms.

With an overall lead of 132, Kent appear in the box seat of this game and on course for their first championship win of 2005.

SCOREBOARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Read b Sidebottom 57

RWT Key c Hussey b Sidebottom 32

M van Jaarsveld c Read b Sidebottom 0

M J Walker lbw b Newby 50

D I Stevens lbw b Ealham 33

A Hall c Gallian b Newby 0

N O’Brien c Read b Sidebottom 64

S J Cook b Patel 0

M M Patel c Read b Ealham 22

A Khan c Fleming b Sidebottom 19

M J Saggers not out 12

Extras 11

Total 301 all out after 102.2 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-85, 3-126, 4-159, 5-167, 6-189, 7-192

Bowling: Sidebottom 27.2-9-61-5, Newby 20-6-79-2, Ealham 24-5-69-2, Clough 17-2-45-0, Patel 14-2-37-1.

Nottinghamshire first innings

D J Bicknell run out (Fulton) 63

J E R Gallian c O’Brien b Cook 18

A Singh c Hall b Saggers 11

S P Fleming c Fulton b Khan 24

D J Hussey c O’Brien b Cook 23

C M W Read c van Jaarsfeld b Cook 0

M A Ealham c van Jaarsveld b Cook 0

S R Patel c Khan b Hall 12

R J Sidebottom c Cook b Khan 0

G D Clough not out 12

O J Newby not out 0

Extras 6

Total 169 for nine after 57 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-80, 3-118, 4-134, 5-135, 6-146, 7-146, 8-166, 9-168

Bowling: Saggers 17-3-66-1, Khan 12-1-38-2, Cook 14-3-38-4, Hall 13-3-24-1, Patel 1-0-2-0.

Bonus points: Kent 6 points, Nottinghamshire 3 points.