Mark Footitt took 5-45 to help bowl Kent out for 205 but the hosts’ Matt Coles took 5-20 to restrict Derbyshire to 67-7 in reply at stumps on Day One at Canterbury.
Footitt and Tony Palladino both produced excellent spells of seam bowling to bowl out Kent for 205 after they had decided to bat first, with the latter returning 3-19 from 18 overs.
But the hosts responded through Coles who returned 5-20 off his 10 overs as Derbyshire finished the day 138 runs behind on 67-7 with Tom Poynton unbeaten on 19, playing in his first red-ball fixture since 2013.
Kent won the toss and decided to bat first in bright conditions but it did not take Derbyshire long to make inroads into the hosts’ line-up with two wickets falling in the opening over.
With the second delivery of the match, Footitt trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond in front for two and then, with the fifth ball, removed Rob Key in similar circumstances without scoring.
Kent skipper Sam Northeast counter-attacked alongside Joe Denly but the latter fell on the stroke of Lunch when the returning Wayne White bowled him for 30. Having bowled exceptionally tightly in the morning without taking a wicket, Palladino got a vital breakthrough soon after Lunch when Northeast chopped him on having scored a fluent 85.
Derbyshire’s dangerous duo of Footitt and Palladino then removed three Kent batsmen whilst the scored remained on 146. First Darren Stevens edged Footitt to Poynton behind for a single and then Palladino bowled Fabian Cowdrey for 22.
First-class debutant wicketkeeper Ryan Davies was the third wicket to fall without Kent scoring a run when Footitt produced a beauty to clean bowl the 18-year-old.
The fifth wicket to fall in the flurry after Lunch was that of Matt Coles who could only edge Palladino to Wes Durston at second slip for five.
Adam Riley scored a career-best 34 for the hosts during a frustrating ninth-wicket partnership of 53 before he edged Footitt through to Poynton to give Derbyshire’s left-armer his 13th first-class five-wicket haul.
The final wicket to fall was that of Ivan Thomas who was run out by White from the boundary without scoring as Kent were bowled out for 205.
In reply, Derbyshire lost three wickets to Coles before a run was scored. Ben Slater, Chesney Hughes and Tillakaratne Dilshan all succumbed to the pace of Coles without scoring.
Billy Godleman was Coles’ fourth victim when he edged to Northeast to take a good catch in the slips for two and Derbyshire were 15-4.
Coles had the eighth first-class five-wicket haul of his career in the 11th over of the innings when he had Scott Elstone lbw.
Wes Durston was the only Derbyshire batsman to resist the Kent attack for a prolonged period but he fell for 35 when Darren Stevens had him lbw. Wayne White was lbw to Stevens in his next over without scoring to leave the visitors 40-7.
Poynton (19 not out) and Palladino (11 not out), however, showed late resistance adding an unbeaten 27 for the eighth wicket as Derbyshire closed on 67-7.
Derbyshire are back in home NatWest T20 Blast action on Thursday 18 June when they welcome Leicestershire Foxes to The 3aaa County Ground.
