Kent spinners Aron Nijjar and Yuzvendra Chahal ripped through the Nottinghamshire middle order to reduce the visitors to 219 for 8 in their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Canterbury, a deficit of 227.

Steven Mullaney and Joe Clarke, who made 86 and 62 respectively, looked to have blunted the Kent attack with a century stand for the third wicket, but Nijjar took career-best figures of 3 for 41 and India’s Chahal claimed 3 for 52.

Nottinghamshire had started the day well, taking 6 for 59 to bowl Kent out for 446 before lunch. Lyndon James was one of four Notts bowlers to claim two wickets and he finished with the best figures of 2 for 30. Kent captain Jack Leaning made 64.

In a game that could be pivotal for their chances of staying in Division One, Kent resumed on 387 for 4 but Harry Finch fell for 47 in the third over of the morning, glancing Dane Paterson behind. Paterson struck again when Leaning clipped him to Mullaney at mid-off and James removed Joey Evison for 16, caught behind trying to hook.

Nijjar was on 11 when he edged James and although Tom Moores couldn’t cling on to a one-handed grab, after a scrambled single Nathan Gilchrist hit the next ball almost vertically and was caught by Brett Hutton.

Nijjar, on loan from Essex, went at the start of the next over, the 115th, when he tried to hook Hutton and was caught on the boundary by sub-fielder Sam King and the innings was wrapped up two balls later when Chahal edged Hutton behind.

Kent had lost their last four wickets for four runs in the space of 17 balls, but Nottinghamshire were soon rocked by the loss off Ben Slater for a third-ball duck, when he edged Michael Hogan to Leaning at second slip. It was 17 for 1 at lunch, after which Hogan had Haseeb Hameed caught behind for 9, but from 29 for 2 Notts recovered with Mullaney and Clarke putting together a partnership worth 131.

Chahal generated some turn during his first spell, but aside from a difficult caught-and-bowled chance off Mullaney the batters initially picked him with relative ease.

Mullaney hit Evison for four to pass 50, while Clarke did likewise with a single from Gilchrist, but Nijjar finally broke through when he had Clarke caught by Leaning at mid-on with the final ball of the session to leave the visitors on 160 for 3 at tea.

That wicket sparked a dramatic shift in the momentum, with Notts losing 4 for 14 and going nearly ten overs without a boundary. Mullaney tried to smash Nijjar out of the ground and was caught by Daniel Bell-Drummond at backward point, Nijjar then bowled Moores for an eight-ball duck with a ball that spun sharply and Chahal claimed his first Kent wicket with a sharp legbreak that bowled James off stump.

Matt Montgomery hit a full delivery from Chahal straight to Leaning at mid-off and Calvin Harrison tried to swipe Chahal, only to become a sprinting Leaning’s fourth catch of the innings.

Paterson and Hutton survived a dicey seven over spell to reach stumps, but the hosts will be by far the happier at the end of day two.