Jordan Cox pulverised his former Kent team-mates with a whirlwind century as Essex piled on the runs towards a declaration in the Vitality County Championship at Chelmsford.

The 23-year-old right-hander reached his first three-figure score for his new county with a mighty six over square leg, one of six sixes in an unbeaten 116 as Essex raced to 257-4 and a lead of 374 in 40 over in a lengthy evening session. The fast accumulation of runs was necessary with rain and high winds forecast for the final day. 

Earlier Ben Compton had weighed anchor for more than eight and a half hours to help Kent avoid the follow-on by 33 runs. The obdurate left-hander was last man out for 165, his highest score for Kent, eked from 263 balls and spliced sparingly with 18 boundaries.

That Essex were able to get so close to asking Kent to go straight back in was due to an inspired spell from leg-spinning all-rounder Matt Critchley, following up his career-high 151 with 5-105, his best figures since moving from Derbyshire in 2022.

Wickets had been scarce on day two, but things were soon back to normal. Daniel Bell-Drummond had added just a single to his overnight score when he was late on a straight one from Jamie Porter. He had been in the middle for 73 overs with Compton while putting on 224 for the second wicket.

It was the breakthrough Essex needed after waiting so long. They had taken the new ball at the start of the day and it quickly accounted for Jack Leaning in Porter’s next over, lbw to one that jagged in, before Shane Snater removed Joe Denly’s leg stump to claim his 100th first-class wicket.

It was then over to Critchley, who flipped from end to end, taking wickets at both. Harry Finch misdrove to a stooping mid-on to the first ball of a brief spell from the river end, Jaydn Denly lunged extravagantly to loop a ball from the opposite end into short leg’s hands and Wes Agar toppled forward to fall lbw as Critchley reverted to his original starting point.

However, that only brought in Nathan Gilchrist who pulled Critchley and Simon Harmer for sixes as he contributed 33 towards the first fifty of a 88-run stand with the immovable Compton.

Gilchrist was finally out for a career-high of 41 from 64 balls, having helped Kent avoid the follow-on, before edging Critchley behind where Michael Pepper grabbed at the second attempt. Critchley’s fourth career fifth-wicket haul was confirmed when Matt Parkinson thick-edged to slip.

Compton, 100 not out at start of play, watched the wickets tumble from the other end. He played one of the shots of the day when he rocked back and drove Harmer through the covers for four. But he was denied the honour of carrying his bat, bowled around his legs attempting to sweep Harmer.

When Essex batted for a second time, Dean Elgar survived a chance to Agar’s third ball, dropped at the third attempt by a diving Harry Finch. Elgar made Kent pay with 34 from 48 balls before Garrett trapped him lbw.

Kent had broken through when Feroze Khushi watched in horror as an injudicious pull off Agar ended up in deep midwicket’s hands. Agar had a second wicket when Tom Westley played all around one and was lbw.

Cox quickly found his range, twice reverse-sweeping Parkinson for boundaries and then slamming two fours through midwicket and a six over extra cover in a Parkinson over that cost 19. That wasn’t the end of the T20-style innings as sixes rained around Chelmsford.

The ubiquitous Critchley hit 25 from 23 balls in a quickfire 87-run partnership with Cox before being bowled by Parkinson while Michael Pepper helped add 91 for the unbroken fifth wicket.

Essex’s Jordan Cox after his century against his former club said:

“Obviously it’s been a good day. To bowl them out today and to then score enough runs  where we can have a go at them tomorrow  is  good and leaves us with a good scenario in the game.

“I’m obviously happy to contribute to the team and  I felt that l’ve given my wicket away  in the last couple of innings so to kick on today and against my old club leaves me really happy.

“I haven’t yet really reflected on the impact of scoring a hundred against my old club but once I start watching the highlights, l’m sure I will.

“I think we had choices of what we were going to do in our second innings but now we are in a very good situation which is handy but we just went out there to be positive.

“Critch (Matt Critchley) came out and started smoking it and I thought to myself, I might as well bat like he’s batting, taking the game on. He took a five-for with his leg breaks and for him to do that is awesome.

“If the rain holds off on day four, I think we’ve got a real good chance of victory and the wicket looks suited for our spinners  so let’s hope, fingers crossed, the weather stays away and we get the win.”

Ben Compton hit 165 for Kent and said: “That’s four-day cricket. From where we were at the start of the day on 245-1 just shows how quickly a game can turn. Credit to the way they played at the end there, we took a bit of a battering.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do in that situation, it’s a small ground, and they really went for it and it paid off. It went their way too, there were a couple of spilled chances, a couple landed in no-man’s land.”

“But credit to Jordan Cox, he played beautifully, to be fair. But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’d got to put it behind us and come back tomorrow and really work see if we can walk away with eight points for a draw.

“I’ve got mixed feelings. Obviously I’m very glad on a personal level to contribute. But I think, to be honest, that last hour has put a dampener on things. I’d imagine they’ll declare overnight and stick us in straight tomorrow, so we’ve just got to look forward.

“They have set the game up by playing really aggressively. We’ve been behind from the get-go and that is certainly the case going into tomorrow.

“The focus has got to be on that first hour tomorrow, that first session is going to be huge. It’s all about negotiating that and see where we are. At this point I guess we are just trying to play out a draw.

“I think it was quite clear that they were going to be really aggressive in that last session and try and put the pressure back and give us a tricky job tomorrow. I think that was quite evident, so we knew we had to start well and we took a few early wickets and it could have swung either way at one point.”

“But to be fair Cox played a subline innings, he played some amazing shots so fair play to him. But we did come into that session really pumped to try and get a few early wickets and see what we could do from there, but last hour really hurt us.”