Warwickshire struggle on opening day

Warwickshire 178 for 8 (Powell 49, Streak 36*, Khan 3-41) v Kent
Scorecard

Heath Streak: valuable runs for Warwickshire and has an important role to play with the ball © Getty Images

Last season Warwickshire won the Championship with just five wins but this season they have already managed four victories, and have certainly appeared more of result team in 2005. However, that does not always mean winning games, and today, against Kent, they struggled to 178 for 8 at Edgbaston.

But that represents something of a recovery after Warwickshire's top order was left in tatters at 52 for 6. Michael Powell (49) showed more resolve than most of the frontline batsmen, while Heath Streak added some valuable runs at No. 9.

However, those efforts apart, it was a struggle for Warwickshire as Simon Cook and Amjad Khan did the damage for Kent. They made full use of winning the toss after the rain had cleared by mid-afternoon. The early clatter of wickets was set in motion when Nick Knight was bowled by Khan (8 for 1), who then brought an abrupt end to Ian Bell's run-scoring when he also saw his stumps disturbed, as he bottom-edged an attempted hook (10 for 2).

Niall O'Brien, Kent's reserve wicketkeeper, is getting plenty of opportunity with Geraint Jones on England duty, and he took a hat-trick of catches and suddenly three-figures was looking a long way away.

Powell and Tony Frost began a partial recovery with a stubborn partnership of 62, which was ended when Powell edged Cook to Martin van Jaarsveld at slip (114 for 6), after a minute shy of three hours of hard grafting. For his efforts he deserved a half-century, but Cook's probing accuracy meant Kent remained in the driving seat.

Frost's wicket - two runs later - further boosted Kent, and it came from the increasingly useful medium-pace of Darren Stevens. When he was at Leicestershire Stevens was not entrusted with much bowling - he only sent down 13.2 overs in 2004 - but since his move to Kent he has become a valuable partnership-breaker. This season he has 11 Championship wickets and is a further proof of how having a second string can make a player so much more valuable to a team.

Warwickshire, though, also pride themselves on having multi-dimensional cricketers and their deep batting came to their rescue. Streak and Neil Carter added 62 for the ninth wicket, with a mixture of positive shots and sturdy defence. Carter - who has a first-class century to his name - is better known for his shot-a-ball batting in limited overs cricket but showed remarkable restraint to forge a vital stand with Streak.

When Warwickshire get their turn to bowl, sometime tomorrow morning, Streak will play another key role, as he will need to do the same damage to a powerful Kent batting line-up as Warwickshire suffered today.