A combination of cautious declaring by Gloucestershire and bad weather inevitably forced a draw at Canterbury on Sunday.

With Gloucestershire starting day four in the strong position of being 191 for 3, some 296 runs ahead of Kent, the visitors opted for a safety first approach and batted on for a further hour an a half before setting Kent an unrealistic target of 363 to win.

Only once in a hundred times would a side even dream of chasing down such a target and Kent were 94 for 2 when play was finally ended by the umpires at 4:30pm .

The first hour and a half saw Kent pick up the four wickets of both Gidman brothers, Hamish Marshall and Ian Cockbain.

Matt Coles once again showed his enormous potential as he steamed in from the Pavilion End, removing both Alex Gidman (70) and Cockbain (5) leg before.

Meanwhile, Hamish Marshall was out for 74 with Brendan Nash and Geraint Jones effecting a well taken run out.

When Will Gidman holed out to Darren Stevens off the bowling of James Tredwell for 20 it seemed as though Gloucestershire would pull out then, but they went on to add a further nine runs before finally setting Kent the mammoth target of 363.

Kent’s reply started cautiously with Scott Newman and Rob Key putting on 21 unbeaten in the seven overs available for lunch, with Newman eventually falling for 17 as he nicked Will Gidman behind to the grateful gloves of Richard Coughtrie.

Ben Harmison was to keep skipper Rob Key company for some time as the pair put on fifty for the second wicket, but he fell for 20 with the score on 85 holing out to substitute fielder James Fuller at deep mid wicket off the bowling off spinner Ed Young.

Shortly after, Kent were forced from the field just before the tea interval as the rain steadily poured and the claps of thunder boomed overhead.

With the floodlights on and the umpires making various looks at the conditions, they finally called time on the game at 4:30pm with the sun out, the covers on and thunder rumbling around the ground.

Kent are back in action again on Thursday as Yorkshire come to Canterbury for another County Championship fixture.

Kent side: Newman, Key, Harmison, Nash, Powell, Stevens, Jones, Tredwell, Coles, Davies, Shreck.

Gloucestershire side: Coughtrie, Dent, Howell, A Gidman, Marshall, Cockbain, W Gidman, Young, Muchall, Saxelby, Payne.

Result: Match Drawn Gloucestershire 255 all out & 257 for 7 dec, Kent 150 all out & 94 for 2.

Pictures by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures, visit www.sarahcanterbury.com