Yorkshire take upper hand on intriguing day

Victories against Warwickshire and Somerset got Gale's reign as captain off to a flying start and there are signs he is forging a promising partnership with Moxon, now in his fourth season as the county's director of professional cricket.

The combination of Gale's aggressive approach and Moxon's astute attitude have carried Yorkshire to the top of the First Division and confounded bookmakers' predictions they will finish bottom of the league.

Another victory at Canterbury would have Yorkshire and their supporters daring to dream of a title challenge in a tournament that appears deliciously wide open.

At the end of an intriguing first day at the St Lawrence Ground, Kent were 313-9 and Yorkshire could be satisfied with their efforts after losing the toss.

The pitch is a good one and more straw-coloured than usual for this time of year, and a par score looks to be in the region of 400.

When Kent slipped to 195-6 just before tea, Yorkshire were overwhelmingly in control and had hopes of dismissing the home side for under 250.

But aggressive batting by Darren Stevens, who struck 92 from 125 balls with 12 fours and a six, meant Gale's players did not have everything their own way but had to work hard to get their rewards.

Yorkshire – unchanged from their victory against Somerset – were quickly into their stride on a cool and sunny morning.

Ajmal Shahzad produced a snorter of a delivery to account for Kent captain Robert Key, who edged a ball that climbed menacingly from just short of a length to wicketkeeper Jonathan Bairstow with the total on 28 in the eighth over.

Shahzad and fellow England star Tim Bresnan – who shared seven of the nine wickets – will now almost certainly be available for all four days of the game after England confirmed they plan to travel to the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday after UK airports reopened following the volcanic ash cloud.

It represents a welcome boost for Gale and Moxon, who also hope to have overseas player Tino Best available for Sunday's ECB 40 League opener against Essex at Chelmsford following the lifting of flight restrictions, with the 28-year-old having been stranded in his native Barbados since receiving his work permit.

Both the quality of the Canterbury surface and the Yorkshire bowling were emphasised by the fact Key was the only frontline batsman not to make double figures, with most players getting starts and then getting out.

The most obvious culprit was fellow opener Joe Denly, who lifted the total to 74-1 with Geraint Jones before making a present of his wicket.

Jones had just struck the first three deliveries of David Wainwright's opening spell from the Pavilion End for 4, 4, 1 before Denly slapped the left-arm spinner's fourth ball straight to cover.

In the next over, Kent slipped to 78-3 when Jones chopped on to Bresnan – the double blow rocking the home side to the extent they managed only 12 more runs in the 13 overs up to lunch as Martin van Jaarsveld and Sam Northeast were stymied by accurate bowling.

Northeast took 42 balls to get off the mark before becoming the fourth wicket to fall when he perished lbw to Wainwright.

From the very next delivery, bowled by Bresnan, van Jaarsveld aimed a horrible-looking hook and top-edged to Bairstow to leave Kent reeling on 131-5.

Stevens's response was to attack with gusto and he immediately launched Wainwright for a six over long-on towards the Colin Cowdrey Stand before hitting Wainwright's next delivery for four in the same direction.

Stevens and James Hockley added 64 for the sixth-wicket in 14 overs before the latter also aimed an ungainly cross-batted stroke, Bresnan accepting a simple catch at deep mid-wicket off Shahzad.

There was further frustration for Yorkshire when Stevens and James Tredwell added 89 in

26 overs before Stevens fell to a catch at second slip by Anthony McGrath off Shahzad agonisingly short of the three-figure mark.

Bresnan bowled Tredwell for 32 before rounding off the day by having Azhar Mahmood superbly caught at first slip by Jacques Rudolph, who took a flying catch to his right to earn Yorkshire maximum bowling points.

Kent v Yorkshire

Canterbury: Kent, who won toss, are 313-9.

Kent First Innings

J L Denly c Sayers b Wainwright 32

R W T Key c Bairstow b Shahzad 5

G O Jones b Bresnan 28

M van Jaarsveld c Bairstow b Bresnan 20

S A Northeast lbw b Wainwright 27

D I Stevens c McGrath b Shahzad 92

J B Hockley c Bresnan b Shahzad 14

J C Tredwell b Bresnan 32

Azhar Mahmood c Rudolph b Bresnan 21

M T Coles not out 3

Extras b18 lb16 w1 nb4 39

Total 9 wkts (95.3 overs) 313

Fall: 1-28 2-74 3-78 4-131 5-131 6-195 7-284 8-292 9-313.

To Bat: A Khan.

Bowling: Bresnan 23.3 6 52 4; Shahzad

25 3 61 3; Hannon-Dalby 18 3 59 0;

Wainwright 14 4 49 2; McGrath 3 0 18 0;

A U Rashid 11 1 39 0; Rudolph 1 0 1 0.

Umpires: N G B Cook and D Millns.