Kent were bowled out by Somerset on a fluctuating second day in Division 1 of the Vitality County Championship at Canterbury on Saturday.

Joey Evison hit 85 and Harry Finch 54, as the hosts recovered from 114-5 to total 284 all out in their first innings.

All-rounder Evison, 22, said: “We lost a couple of wickets in clusters. But we did quite well to get up to 284.

“I think we have left a fair few runs out there because it’s a nice wicket to bat on.”

Somerset captain Lewis Gregory’s first over went for 20 but he rallied to take 4-66, including the key wicket of Evison at the end of the innings. But bad light stopped play before Somerset had the chance to reply, with 23 scheduled overs remaining.

The weather had wiped out the first day and conditions were still blustery on Saturday morning.

Somerset, who left out England spinner Shoaib Bashir, chose to bowl and produced a torrid opening spell.

The home side scored just 17 off the first 10 overs from Josh Davey (0-22) and Jake Ball (0-48) but, when Gregory came on from the Nackington Road End, the batsmen were initially able to cut loose.

Tawanda Muyeye took 24 balls and 39 minutes to get off the mark. Once the opening pair had been seen off, he hit 33 from 55 balls, though, before Gregory bowled him.

Gregory struck again in his next over when he had Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond caught at second slip by Kasey Aldridge for six and Jack Leaning then went for a golden duck, caught behind by James Rew down the leg-side off Ned Leonard.

Matt Renshaw (1-40) had Joe Denly caught by Gregory for 19 with the final ball of the session to leave Kent on 110-4 at lunch.

The normally staid Compton tried to hook Gregory and was caught on the boundary by Leonard for 32 but Kent responded with a partnership of 93, Evison joining Finch to take the hosts past the 200-run mark.

Kasey Aldridge (2-32) then tilted the equation back in the visitors’ favour with two wickets in the 53rd over. Finch drove him to Tom Banton at mid-wicket and he had Australian bowler Wes Agar caught for a duck in the slips by Gregory.

Sensing he might run out of partners, Evison went on the attack, swiping Renshaw for six over cow corner.

He was dropped by Tom Lammonby, off Aldridge, on 51, but Goldsworthy (1-21) claimed his maiden first-class wicket when he bowled Nathan Gilchrist for just two, leaving Kent on 235-8 at tea.

The hosts countered with a stand of 61 for the ninth wicket which was only broken when Evison tried to drive Goldsworthy, who deflected the ball onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end and ran out Matt Parkinson for 25.

Evison fell on the deep square-leg boundary when he tried to hook 31-year-old Gregory and was caught by Goldsworthy.

“I reckon we would have liked to have got more than 350,” revealed Evison.

“But being 114-5, I think we did quite well to get to 284.

“Obviously, we did have a couple of nice partnerships of 59, 93 and 71 but we would have liked them to have been 100 runs or more.”

On his vital stand with Finch, Evison added: “I always like batting with Finchy.

“He’s a calm, level-headed guy - as is Parky (Parkinson) - who batted for more than 70 balls, which was crucial.”

Somerset’s openers Lammonby and former Kent player Sean Dickson, 32, made it as far as the middle when the umpires took a light reading and suspended play.

With no improvement looking likely, play was abandoned for the day at 6.05pm.