Kent face an uphill task to bat out for a draw on the final day of their Rothesay County Championship match with Gloucestershire in Bristol.
The hosts were all out for 516 on day three, with hundreds from Cameron Green (128) and James Bracey (127) giving them a lead of 92. Nathan Gilchrist took 3-141 and Jake Ball 3-132 as Kent fought to stay in the game, but Tom Price hit 76 to give Gloucestershire a potentially crucial advantage.
Required to show resilience in the face of pressure, Kent were undone by seam on a batter-friendly track, losing openers Harry Finch and Ben Compton, captain Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tawanda Muyeye as they slumped to 98-4.
Jack Leaning and Chris Benjamin dug in to advance the score to 135-4 by the close, but the visitors are just 43 runs ahead.
Bell-Drummond said: “It was a tough day for us and Gloucestershire played really well. That Cam Green-James Bracey partnership seems to be a bit of a thing at the moment against us and they batted really well and showed their class.
“Full credit to our bowlers, because they ran in hard and the seamers stood up.
“With the bat, we let them in during the back end of the day and that means they are right back in the game. Jack Leaning and Chris Benjamin had a good partnership at the end and we’ll need more of that in the morning.
“We can definitely save this game without a doubt. It’s been a tricky couple of weeks for us, but there is a strong mentality in the dressing room and we’ll be up for the challenge.
“We have to get through that first half an hour and take it from there. We know Gloucestershire will come hard at us.”
Having failed to win any of their last 15 home matches since defeating Warwickshire at Bristol in September 2022, Gloucestershire will feel they have a genuine opportunity to register their first win of the season.
Kent’s hopes of establishing a first-innings lead were dependent upon the new ball, which was taken in the second over of the day. But Gilchrist and Ball failed to take advantage, sending down too many four balls.
After adding 54 in the first eight overs with Bracey, Green succumbed to Gilchrist when feathering a catch behind. Grant Stewart then removed Graeme van Buuren leg before without scoring but there was no stopping Bracey, who went to his 15th first-class hundred by flicking Kashir Ali off his legs for a single.
Bracey and Price put on 50 from 86 balls as the seventh-wicket pair wiped out the arrears. They were in credit by the time Bracey skyed a catch to mid-on off the bowling of Ball.
Zaman Akhter hit Gilchrist straight to mid-off, but Price was on 35 not out, his highest score of the season, when lunch was taken with the home side 438-8, a lead of 14.
Josh Shaw pulled Gilchrist to deep mid-wicket and ran two as Gloucestershire secured a fifth batting bonus point off the final ball of the 110th over. Price reached 76 before falling leg before to Kashif and Ajeet Singh Dale fell in identical fashion, leaving Shaw unbeaten on 34.
Kent openers Finch and Compton set their sights on seeing off the new ball and reaching tea with their wickets intact, and they almost succeeded. Gloucestershire required a breakthrough if they were to exert real pressure and Singh Dale obliged, producing late swing to pin Finch in front for 23 in the final over before the interval.
Trailing by 55 runs at the start of the final session, the visitors had work to do. Compton and Bell-Drummond staged a defiant stand of 48 in 13.3 overs, saw off the dangerous Singh Dale and looked to have done the hard work, only for the former to edge a fullish delivery from Shaw to Cameron Bancroft at second slip and fall for 35. When Bell-Drummond (21) offered Price a return catch in the act of driving in the next over, Kent were 89-3, still three runs behind.
Akhter angled a delivery into Muyeye, who was given out leg before for five, at which point the visitors had surrendered three wickets in five overs. Leaning and Benjamin safely negotiated 14 overs of seam to reach the close unbeaten on 15 and 17 respectively.
Report from ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
