Kent’s Rothesay County Championship clash with Middlesex at Canterbury remains in the balance heading into the final day.
The visitors established a first-innings lead on day three before reducing Kent to 233-7 in reply, a lead of 206.
Kent’s Ekansh Singh said: “One hundred per cent, the game is definitely in the balance. The wicket is quick and changing and, as today showed, the game is quick and changing.
“We felt that after the first innings we were in the driver’s seat and after getting them six down we we’re definitely on top.
“They had one really good partnership which put the game in the balance, and then the wicket is changing again with a bit more variable bounce, which gives us confidence that any more runs we can get over 200 will be a real challenge for them.
“I reckon day one there was a bit of lateral movement in it, and we batted very well and day two it looked like under all the heat and the conditions, the wicket properly hardened up and got a bit flat.
“Even with the newer ball it wasn’t moving laterally as much, especially when it was softer. It was really abrasive on the ball and didn’t feel like it was offering us much, but now the real threat is the bounce.”
Middlesex were all out for 443, a first-innings lead of 27. Max Holden made 182 and put on a stand of 238 with Zafar Gohar, who contributed 95. Keith Dudgeon took all four Middlesex wickets to fall, finishing with 4-77.
Middlesex were 97 in arrears at the start of play, but they wiped that out during the morning session. Dudgeon put down a chance to get Holden when he edged Hasan Mahmud when he was on 162.
But Dudgeon finally broke the partnership when he had Zafar caught hooking by Ben Compton.
Dugdeon (4-93) had Holden caught behind, but by then the deficit was only four and Tom Helm put the visitors in front when he punched Grant Stewart through the covers. Toby Roland-Jones pulled Dudgeon for six over fine leg and one over went for 19 before Tom Helm skied Dudgeon to Daniel Bell-Drummond for 11.
It would have been two in two balls, but Chris Benjamin then dropped Naavya Sharma down the leg side. Dudgeon did, however, wrap up the innings when Roland-Jones was caught at fine leg by substitute fielder Harry Finch for 28.
Kent’s second innings started slowly and Helm boosted Middlesex’s hopes with the early wicket of Compton, who was caught behind for four.
It took the hosts over an hour to reach parity and they were only 13 ahead when Sharma (3-30) bowled Ben Dawkins for 11.
Sam Northeast had ground his way to 46 when Seb Morgan had him lbw in the final over before tea, leaving Kent on 80-3.
Bell-Drummond and Singh injected some impetus with a stand of 82 in the evening session. The 44th over went for 20, with both batters hitting Zafar for six, but just as it looked as if Kent were getting on top, Leus du Plooy replaced Zafar with Sharma, who bowled Bell-Drummond for 60 – only the second time he has scored more than 38 in the County Championship this summer.
Benjamin was just getting going when Morgan strangled him for 16 and Sharma then cleaned up Grant Stewart for eight after du Plooy switched him to the Nackington Road End.
There was a final flourish from the Middlesex skipper when he brought on Helm, who got the crucial wicket of Kent’s last recognised batter Singh for 46 with the first ball of his spell.
Report via ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
