Steve Rhodes is looking for Worcestershire to "to come fighting back" on day two of the Specsavers County Championship clash with Kent at Canterbury.
Worcestershire were bowled out for 211 on the first day after not exercising the option to bowl first and then losing the toss.
Kent replied with 55-0 from 20 overs by the close.
Rhodes said: "We did think about bowling first when we arrived. We knew it was a little damp but, when it was mowed, they took all the grass off it.
"We then thought we might bat first even if it meant getting through a tough patch at the start.
"I thought Kent bowled well but we lacked a little intensity with our batting and got ourselves in a bit of a hole.
"It was a disappointing day, but let's get up for tomorrow and come fighting back."
Kent paceman Mitchell Claydon returned figures of 5-42 – his best in the Championship for the county.
The former Durham player said: "I felt that performance has been coming for a while. I've put in some good spells over the past couple of months without the wickets I felt I've deserved. It strange how it works some days.
"This was the pitch we played Glamorgan on earlier in the season and we found then that if we bent our backs we could get something out of it and got a lot of wickets caught down the channel.
"We felt a little flat at lunch time and said we needed to offer a little more in the field and we did that in the last two sessions."
