Boje stars against depleted Kent

Nicky Boje's cool approach ensures Northamptonshire capitalised on the hosts' below-strength bowling attack

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A faultless unbeaten 77 from captain Nicky Boje gave Northamptonshire the edge on their first four-day visit to Canterbury in five years.

The South African left-hander featured in two half-century stands with Riki Wessels and Andrew Hall as the visitors just about made the most of Rob Key’s brave decision to field first to rack up 268 for five in their LV= County Championship Division Two match.

The Kent skipper’s call was made all the more courageous when considering the limited bowling options at his disposal.

Kent were without their overseas signing Stuart Clark after his recall by Australia, while Kolpak all-rounders Justin Kemp and Ryan McLaren remain overseas.

McLaren is playing Indian Premier League cricket and Kemp suffered visa delays and only arrived in the UK yesterday afternoon.

Adding to Key’s woes, Amjad Khan and Robbie Joseph, his preferred new-ball attack last season, are injured, as is Simon Cook, so, with the cupboard almost bare, Kent signed Steffan Jones on loan from Somerset and gave a championship debut to local lad Phil Edwards.

A 25-year-old former Cambridge Blue, Edwards had previous spells with Sussex and Derbyshire and plays Kent League cricket in nearby Sittingbourne. He came into this game with the dubious distinction of being the only player in Kent’s history to come from the Isle of Sheppey.

It was left to Jones and Martin Saggers, with a combined age of 71, to share the new ball and, although the veteran pairing kept things tight, they offered little in the way of attacking threat.

Northamptonshire had not played a four-day fixture at the St Lawrence Ground for five years until today

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Azhar Mahmood secured the only wicket of the first session, having Ben Howgego caught in the slips after an airy drive to the all-rounder’s fourth ball of the day.

Kent rallied after lunch, claiming three wickets in the mid-session, the first two of them in the space of two overs as Stephen Peters (32) edged behind to give Jones his first wicket for Kent – his fourth county club.

Rob White (41) then attempted to pull a full-length ball from Mahmood that snared him leg-before and, after a stand of 61, Wessels nicked a Saggers away-swinger to the keeper.

Boje, untroubled throughout, timed the ball sweetly to hit five fours and a six on his way to a 137-ball half-century.

He and fellow Kolpak signing Hall added 72 for the fifth wicket before Hall (38) drove at a Darren Stevens off-cutter to go lbw.

David Willey, who made 60 on first-class debut versus Leicestershire last week, accompanied Boje to the close unbeaten on 19.