Emilio Gay made the first century of the County Championship season as Durham edged ahead of Kent on a closely contested first day of their Division Two match.
Gay was fluent and positive in a chanceless century, his 11th in first-class cricket, on a day when his team-mates struggled to cope with Kent’s impressive overseas duo, Glenton Stuurman and Keith Dudgeon.
Durham were bowled out for 335, with Dudgeon picking up four scalps and Stuurman three on his Kent debut.
Kent’s reply got off to a bad start, with England’s Zak Crawley dismissed cheaply, and they finished the day on 50-2, trailing by 285 runs.
Durham were put into bat by Kent under the lights on an overcast Good Friday and the visitors made an excellent start as Stuurman got Ben McKinney lbw for eight.
After the early loss skipper Alex Lees looked to carefully accumulate while in the crease. Gay then joined him and dispatched Joey Evison’s first ball, a full toss, to the legside boundary.
Lees continued to tick along nicely but South African Dudgeon removed the Durham captain for 29, with him edging to Crawley at first slip.
That brought Durham’s talisman David Bedingham to the crease and he got off the mark with a lovely four through the covers and he backed that up with a cut to the boundary from Dudgeon’s next ball.
However, Dudgeon struck back as he got one to nip away from Bedingham and the Durham man edged it straight to Crawley at slip for 12.
Gay continued to look in good touch and passed fifty before lunch from 68 balls. Graham Clark at the opposite end then joined Gay in the boundary-scoring and their budding partnership passed 100.
Gay continued to find the boundary with ease, hitting back-to-back boundaries from an Evison over.
Clark then departed for 34, edging a Stuurman delivery to Crawley at first slip, but Gay then became the first County Championship centurion of the summer, notching up the milestone from 111 balls.
His partners kept on falling though as Stuurman picked up his third when Colin Ackermann went for six after he inside edged one on to his pads, which rolled on to his stumps.
Gay then fell for an excellent 128 as he edged a Grant Stewart delivery to Crawley who took his fourth catch of the day at slip.
Stewart struck for a second time in quick succession on the stroke of tea, as he got Ollie Robinson lbw for 15, with the Durham keeper offering no shot to one that hit him on the pads.
Kasey Aldridge and Ben Raine resumed for Durham after tea, with the lower order pair adopting a more watchful manner at the crease as they took Durham to a first batting point.
Aldridge played a glorious straight drive for four to tick the scoreboard over, however, Raine then fell for 19 as he chased a Dudgeon ball down the legside straight into the hands of Chris Benjamin.
Dudgeon got his fourth soon after as he got Matthew Potts lbw for one, but Durham managed to get past the 300 mark and accrued a second batting bonus point.
Durham’s final wicket pair frustrated Kent, with Aldridge picking up runs and rotating the strike with fellow red ball debutant Kemar Roach, as they put on 45 together, with Stewart claiming the final wicket after Roach was caught in the slips for 21.
Durham then made a dream start with the ball, as Roach got Ben Compton lbw for four in the first over of Kent’s reply.
England opener Crawley got off the mark, but he was soon out as Potts got him lbw for nine. Potts nearly had a second after McKinney dropped Tawanda Muyeye on none at first slip.
Sam Northeast and Muyeye saw Kent through to close, with their side 50-2.
Report by ECB Reporters’ Network.
