Notts were always in control once Jason Gallian, maintaining the excellent batting form he had shown in the parallel championship match, and Mathew Dowman had added 60 for the first wicket.

Gallian was then content to lend patient support as Notts captain Paul Johnson accelerated impressively with 78 in an unbroken stand of 118. Kent had started promisingly, but teenage opener Robert Key, with 50, was the only player to make a substantial score.