KENT’S decent start turned into something of a disaster as they slumped to 203 all out six at sun-kissed Old Trafford.

After reaching 38 without loss, the visitors lost their next five wickets in the space of 10 overs on a bouncy Manchester pitch.

The wicket had little to do with the loss of the first wicket though, as opening batsman Rob Key, after scoring a fluent 29, chanced a second run against the arm of Kyle Hogg at long-leg only to lose the race.

Andrew Symonds hammered two quick boundaries to move to nine but then, in trying to repeat a back foot force, he edged a lifting ball off Kyle Hogg into the gloves of Warren Hegg.

Three overs later in-form Matt Walker (11) again failed to get on top of the bouncing ball from Sajid Mahmood and nicked a comfortable catch to his former team-mate Carl Hooper to make it 78 for three.

Though Ed Smith moved on to 36 from 55 balls, his scratchy stay came to an end in the 19th over when, in attempting to pull a short one from Mahmood he dragged on to leg stump, forcing the one bail to topple off.

Despite near ideal conditions, the collapse continued when Glen Chapple, after a tight opening burst, returned to have David Fulton (4) caught off the gloves leg-side to one that might have been called a wide.

After surviving a huge shout for caught behind moments after coming to the crease, Geraint Jones hung around for another 25 minutes yet without getting off the mark.

His misery came to an end when Mahmood returned for his second spell to uproot Jones’ leg stump with a yorker.

With nothing to lose, Kent’s rookie spinners Rob Ferley and James Tredwell worked the ball around in a spirited seventh wicket stand that added 22, but Lancashire remained in overall command when Tredwell went for 23.

Playing around a full-length ball from Hogg, Tredwell went leg before to make it 128 for seven.

Last week’s top-scorer Rob Ferley again helped save Kentish face as he and Martin Saggers (11) posted 54 in 12 overs for the best stand of the game.

Ferley reached a brisk 42, that included the first six of the innings helped over the mid-wicket ropes from a short one from Hooper, before Chapple plucked out Ferley’s off stump as the right-hander made room to drive.

Saggers went to the next ball, trapped leg before by Hooper’s arm ball, but there was still time for a few fireworks from Alamgir Sheriyar (14), who hit successive sixes off Hooper before running himself out with six balls of the innings remaining.

Mahmood, with three for 39, was the pick of the Lancashire attack.