Matt Renshaw hit an unbeaten 82 as Somerset moved into second place in the Vitality County Championship First Division with an eight-wicket victory over Kent at Taunton.

The visitors battled their way to 564 all out in their secnd innings from an overnight 409 for five, Joe Denly leading the fight with 67 off 129 balls before being last man out. Grant Stewart hit 6 fours in contributing 37, while Josh Davey recovered from illness to take two for 40.

That left Somerset to make 189 for victory in a minimum of 54 overs. The outcome was never in doubt as opener Renshaw cracked 6 fours in a 122-ball innings and Andy Umeed made 73 not out to help their side take a maximum 24 points. Kent had to be content with two.

The home bowling attack anticipated a tough day under clear skies on a flat pitch. It might have been shorter had Craig Overton not spilled a chance offered to second slip by Harry Finch in the opening over, completed from the previous evening by Migael Pretorius.

Finch went on to make 20 and helped Denly take the total to 455 before Davey, who had not bowled on day two because of a sickness bug, took up the attack from the River End and had him caught behind edging a defensive shot.

Having switched ends, Davey struck again with the score on 480, pinning Joey Evison lbw for 17 and leaving Kent 104 ahead with three wickets remaining. Denly batted throughout the morning session with few mishaps, but lost another partner on the stroke of lunch when Beyers Swanepoel edged to Overton at second slip off Pretorius.

If Somerset thought the job was almost done, Denly and Stewart proved them wrong with a stand of 59 at the start of the afternoon session, Stewart opting to counter-attack and taking 3 fours off a Davey over.

The patient Denly went to a trademark fifty off 110 balls with a nick through the slips for four. It was one of few false shots amid stubborn resistance and Somerset were struggling for another breakthrough when skipper Lewis Gregory took responsibility for wrapping things up.

Stewart had faced only 41 balls when playing one big shot too many and getting an inside edge onto his middle stump, having helped Kent extend their lead to 177. With only last man George Garrett left at the other end, Denly was forced to open up and gave wicketkeeper James Rew his sixth catch of the game when advancing down the pitch to a short ball from Gregory.

With Garrett still missing from their attack because of a groin injury sustained while bowling in the first innings, Kent faced a huge task to make inroads into Somerset’s top order. But they struck with the score on 24 when Sean Dickson, on six, chased a wide leg-side delivery from Swanepoel and glanced a catch to wicketkeeper Finch.

Tom Lammonby has been in great form this season and moved briskly to 30 off 24 balls before his brimming confidence led to an error, skying off-spinner Marcus O’Riordan to deep mid-off where Zak Crawley took a comfortable catch.

Tea was taken immediately with Somerset 60 for two and Renshaw unbeaten on 24. A further 129 runs were needed with a minimum of 40.2 overs left in the day and, with their Australian left-hander at the crease, the hosts had good cause for optimism.

Umeed has settled consistently into the number four batting role in recent games and again looked in good touch as the third-wicket pair blossomed in the final session, Renshaw bringing up the hundred with a square cut for two off O’Riordan.

With the sun still shining brightly over the Cooper Associates County Ground, Renshaw’s fourth boundary took him to a 76-ball half-century, his third of the season. Umeed progressed carefully to his first Championship fifty for Somerset and went on to pass his previous best score for the county of 60 before ending the match with a six and extending the unbroken stand to 134.

Kent had given their all after a poor first innings batting effort, but could not prevent unbeaten Somerset building on an impressive start to the summer.

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “I have told the players they will never have to work harder for 24 points. The two first innings centuries that put in such a good position seem an age ago.

“Taking 20 wickets on that pitch was always going to be tough and we knew that after bowling out Kent cheaply, their second innings would be much more of a challenge for us.

“Migael Pretorius has bowled well since joining us without getting his due rewards, so I am particularly pleased for him that he picked up wickets.

“But it was a great team effort over the four days. The spirit in the dressing room is fantastic and we can now go up to Durham looking to build on a really encouraging start.

“As always, we will have a full debrief before thinking about a team for that match. I don’t think we have fielded the same side in successive games all season.” 

Kent head coach Matt Walker said: “We lost the game in both first innings. It wasn’t a 500 pitch when Somerset batted or a 175 one when we did.

“Having bowled well this season, we couldn’t find the right lines and lengths. Perhaps 300 would have been a par score, but to let them get past 500 was very disappointing.

“First innings batting has been a problem and it’s one we need to address. Things don’t get any easier with Essex as our next opponents.

“Having said all that, there were certainly positives to be drawn from the character the players showed to take the game into late on the final day. Zak Crawley’s innings was amazing and Joe Denly batted well in both innings.

“If he and Grant Stewart could have stayed together for another half hour today we might have had a chance. But four-day cricket is full of ifs and buts and that was certainly the case for us in this game.

“We found ourselves two bowlers light today. Nathan Gilchrist has a sore back, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but George Garrett will miss the next game with his groin injury.”