County Championship: Joe Denly ton puts Kent in charge v Derbyshire

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Joe Denly brought up his 27th first-class century with a boundary off the final ball before the tea interval

Joe Denly struck a century and Zak Crawley narrowly missed out on a maiden first-class hundred on a dominant first day for Kent against Derbyshire.

Having chosen to bat first, the visitors reached 365-6 at the close.

Opener Crawley (96) and Denly (106) added 170 for the second wicket before Crawley was trapped lbw by Tony Palladino.

Denly brought up his hundred before tea, but both he and Heino Kuhn (51) fell in the final session.

Derbyshire fought back with four wickets after tea, but Kent's scoring rate of almost four runs per over put them well on course to register maximum batting points.

Kent are contenders for promotion from Division Two, beginning the match 11 points behind second-placed Sussex and 15 off leaders Warwickshire.

Kent batsman Zak Crawley told 成人快手 Radio Kent:

"I thought it was a good day. We are in a good position to push on and get another batting point. The plan is to only bat once.

"I was disappointed with not getting a 100, but five minutes later I realised that I had played well, and would have taken the score at the start."