Kent get the better of Derbyshire batting

Min Patel showed once again why he had been England's spinner as he took five wickets for Kent in their championship match against Derbyshire. His 5-65 from 30 overs included three wickets in fourth deliveries as Derbyshire plunged from 153-3 to 191-9 at which point Tim Munton and Kasir Shah offered some resistance to take their team into 239-9.

Without the injured Rob Bailey the batting is clearly vulnerable. Trailing by 99 runs at the halfway point Derbyshire lost Michael Di Venuto to the second ball as he was caught at the wicket.

Two more wickets fell before the the arrears were cleared. Steve Titchard (74) and Simon Lacey provided a measure of fight in putting on 88 runs from 37 overs. After that Patel who had missed some of the morning's play with a cricked neck struck a rough patch and had Matthew Dowman l.b.w. Lacey was caught at silly point and Cork was caught at the wicket. Trevor Smith survived the hat-trick but was out to the next ball. Karl Krikken's brief aggression did little to change the situation.

Yet Munton and Shah kept Kent at bay and gave Derbyshire a 140 run lead at the close. The latter will be handicapped in that Rahul Dravid who dislocated his finger in going for a catch will not be able to bat at first-wicket-down.