Kent dig in after Kyle Abbott’s five-for – but relegation looms

Kent 207 (Compton 51, Abbott 5-46) and 70 for 0 (Muyeye 46*) trail Hampshire 403 by 126 runs

Kent battled hard to save their Division One status after being forced to follow on by Hampshire, on a rain-affected third day in the County Championship at Canterbury.

The hosts could be relegated by the end of this round of fixtures, but they reached the close 70 without loss in their second innings, still 126 behind, with Tawanda Muyeye unbeaten on 46 and Ben Compton 24 not out.

Torrential rain fell during an already truncated evening session and play was eventually abandoned for the day at 5.26pm. Earlier, Kyle Abbott took 5 for 46 as Kent were dismissed for 207 in their first innings, Compton their highest scorer with 51.

Kent began day three on 64 for 5, still 339 runs behind Hampshire’s first innings score of 403, but Compton and Harry Finch survived for the first 90 minutes of an extended morning session, aided by some sub-optimal slip fielding. Toby Albert dropped Compton twice, on 24 and 32, the first when he couldn’t hang on to a difficult slip catch off Abbott, the second a more routine head-high chance offered by James Fuller.

Albert finally snared Compton at the third attempt when Abbott found his edge with the first delivery after he had switched to the Nackington Road End. In his next over, Abbott had Finch caught behind for 44, before Liam Dawson bowled Charlie Stobo for 10.

Matt Parkinson was out soon after lunch, caught behind off Brad Wheal for four, but the last-wicket pair of George Garrett and Jas Singh proved a nuisance, particularly after James Vince dropped the former when he was on 17, again in the slips.

Singh passed his previous best first-class score of 14, before he was removed by the new ball, lbw to Abbas for 18, leaving his partner stranded on 27.

With 45 overs remaining in the day Hampshire immediately announced they were enforcing the follow on, but a whiff of farce arrived when Muyeye hit the penultimate ball before tea for a six into the gardens on the Old Dover Road side of the ground. Hampshire were unhappy with the replacement and four of their fielders, the twelfth man and a coach climbed awkwardly over the fence to look for the original, finally finding it after seven minutes.

Shortly after the resumption the potential importance of those seven minutes was magnified when the rain arrived and a total of nine overs were lost. When play resumed at 5.05pm it was already raining again, the groundstaff were already holding the covers and Compton faced down three balls from Abbas before they gave up and went off again.