Kent were forced to toil in the field by Worcestershire, who piled the pressure on them on day two of their Rothesay County Championship Division 2 fixture at New Road on Saturday.
In reply to 196, Worcestershire took their first innings to 441-9, led by captain Brett D’Oliveira’s 90, Adam Hose (75), Jake Libby (52) and Matthew Waite (52 not out).
It was hard toil at a sun-soaked ground for Adam Hollioake’s men and just Matt Milnes (4-81) kept much of a brake on the batsmen.
Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond said: “It was a tough day.
“The bowlers fought hard, but the pitch got a bit flatter and Worcestershire batted very well. I can’t fault the effort. All we can do now is try to save the game.
“We chose to bat because we just felt the pitch would actually dry out, which it has done, and then it would spin a bit more for (Matt) Parkinson. We backed ourselves to try and get a big score on the board in the first innings, but that didn’t happen, so we’ve got to bat big second time round.
“Matt Milnes has done really well. He batted well yesterday and bowled great today. He has not had much luck over the first couple of games but it was good to see him get a four-fer today and he fully deserved it.
“Hopefully, we can mop up the innings with the first ball tomorrow.”
The visitors’ tough day included an injury in the afternoon session when Ben Compton sustained a dislocated finger, which has ruled him out of the rest of the match. England under-19 batsman Ben Dawkins has come in for him.
Worcestershire resumed 94-1 and Kent’s seamers began much more accurately than on the previous evening.
They were rewarded with early wickets when Libby, having not added to his overnight score, was bowled by Milnes. The impressive Milnes then took a catch at point when Kashif Ali sliced a drive at Keith Dudgeon (1-104).
At 104-3, the door was ajar for Kent, but Hose and D’Oliveira emphatically closed it with a partnership of 141 in 33 overs. Hose advanced to his half-century from 88 balls and D’Oliveira followed to his from 84 as they eased their side in front with seven wickets intact.
Again, Milnes provided a lift for the flagging Kent side when he beat Hose’s attempted swipe to uproot leg-stump.
D’Oliveira was 10 short of his 14th first-class century when he edged Mikey Cohen (2-81) to second slip but the captain departed, having put his team in total command.
Their advantage was increased by a perky stand of 42 in 12 overs between Gareth Roderick (40) and Ethan Brookes before the latter edged Milnes and fell to an exceptional catch by Tawanda Muyeye, diving low at second slip.
Roderick was bowled by Joey Evison (2-68), the ball keeping a little low, and Beyers Swanepoel played on to Cohen, but Worcestershire found yet another productive partnership.
Ninth-wicket pair Waite and Tom Taylor (37) worked the ball around intelligently to add 54 before the latter played on to Evison.
Kent have a lot of batting to do to avoid defeat, needing to occupy the crease for the best part of two days, though they can take some encouragement from a good pitch on which so many Worcestershire batters played without discomfort.
