HAMPSHIRE ARE 124-6 IN REPLY TO KENT'S 199

It will take a considerable effort for Hampshire to pull off a rare win in Canterbury.

You have to go back 13 years for the last time Hampshire beat Kent here, but at lunch it had looked promising when Stuart Clark (4-48)helped reduce the home side to 98-6 after Shane Warne lost the toss.

Kent recovered from 129-8 to make 199 but after denying the home side a batting bonus point Hampshire looked in the mood to ensure a considerable first-innings lead.

However, they slumped to 85-6 before recovering to close on 124-6.

Canterbury-born Joe Denly's maiden championship century looked better by the over as Yasir Arafat (3-44), Simon Cook (2-20) and Ryan McClaren (1-18) tore through Hampshire's top order.

Rookie opener Denly, 21, had become the first Kent batsman to carry his bat for four years when he finished unbeaten on 115 (189 balls, 15 fours).

That was some achievement against a Hampshire attack including Clark and Warne.

A Canterbury tale for the 21-year-old to be proud of, you might say.

In the context of the match, the former England U19 batsman looks one to watch but Tony Pigott, the ECB's Pitch Liaison Officer at Canterbury yesterday, could not blame the wicket for the fall of 16 wickets.

A combination of injudicious shots and good bowling from a Kent attack that, on paper at least, looks relatively innocuous were to blame for Hampshire's woes.

After Michael Brown (0) was trapped lbw, Hampshire lost Jimmy Adams, John Crawley (16) and Michael Lumb (0) during a run-less 12-ball spell either side of tea.

Crawley was well caught at second slip after prodding forward while Lumb was out driving, well snaffled at third slip.

After Hampshire had slipped from 52-1 to 52-4, Sean Ervine (22) helped restore some calm before he and former Kent batsman Michael Carberry (7 from 48 balls) were trapped lbw in quick succession by full-length deliveries from Cook and McClaren.

Dimitri Mascarenhas (14*) and Tom Burrows (21*) at least helped Hampshire recover to 124-6 by the close, 75 runs behind.

Burrows was a late replacement for Nic Pothas, who was left out yesterday morning after failing to recover from a foot infection.

He proved a more-than-able replacement for Pothas in the first of his two previous championship appearances in the same fixture two years ago, when he shared in a 131-run eighth-wicket stand with Warne on the day Hampshire's captain scored his maiden first-class century.

A repeat of that effort would be gratefully received today, but Hampshire should have done better after Clark had cut a swathe through Kent's top order yesterday morning.

He dismissed former England batsman Rob Key for a two-ball duck with the last ball of his first over.

Martin Van Jaarsveld, having been dropped by Warne four balls earlier, was then well caught by the Hampshire captain at second slip.

And Matt Walker lost his off stump as he prodded forward in the fifth over of Clark's first spell (9-0-36-3).

Dimitri Mascarenhas accounted for Darren Stevens and Geraint Jones in successive overs as Kent lurched to 74-5.

And after being sledged by Warne over South Africa's World Cup semi-final defeat against Australia, Andrew Hall (1 from 39 balls) was bowled by a googly that clipped his off bail.

Hall had needed 23 balls to score his only run before he was beaten with what turned out to be the last ball before lunch.

A Warne leg break saw off Yasir Arafat at the beginning of the afternoon session.

It turned and bounced via Arafat's outside edge on the way into Burrows's gloves.

Five overs later, the returning Clark had the left-handed McClaren caught behind before James Tredwell (17) helped Denly put on 53 for the ninth wicket. It proved to be the highest stand of the day.

Tredwell was eventually beaten by Warne, who was hit for two fours by Simon Cook (8) on either side of the wicket before catching Kent's last man following a two-handed effort, and a one-handed parry, by the diving Burrows.

Burrows was winded following his acrobatic effort, but thankfully was well enough to bat after the clatter of the first six Hampshire wickets.