Kent moved to the brink of victory in their County Championship match with Gloucestershire after the two captains came together to set up a competitive game.
Kent had Gloucestershire nine wickets down in their second innings, with plenty of runs still needed, but were unable to complete the victory before the close of play, meaning they will need to return on Saturday in the hunt for just one further wicket.
The crowd turned up expecting to see the visitors continue their first innings after putting on 80 without loss yesterday evening, so eyebrows were raised when Kent opening pair Sam Northeast and Rob Key made their way to the crease at the start of play.
After discussions had seen terms agreed between Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger and Kent captain James Tredwell, Gloucestershire had declared their first innings, and Kent batted for just four minutes and 3.1 overs in their second, as the away side caught up with the over rate.
Kent then declared on 4-0, setting the visitors a chase of 399 to win.
Charlie Shreck and Calum Haggett opened the bowling together, and both caused openers Michael Klinger and Chris Dent far more problems than they had on the previous evenings.
The pitch still looked a little flat, but with a plates being formed by some ever-growing cracks, Shreck and Haggett exploited it to its full potential. Shreck had the visitors’ skipper Klinger (7) back in the pavilion in the fifth over – a loose drive edged to James Tredwell at first slip, before snaring Benny Howell in his next over, excellently caught by a tumbling Sam Northeast at cover for a nine-ball duck, leaving Gloucestershire 11-2.
Haggett had been giving opener Chris Dent all sorts of problems as he came around the wicket, and had made just four from 35 balls when he feathered edge through to wicket-keeper Geraint Jones. By this stage, the pitch was doing considerably more than it had seemed to be during the opening two days of the match, as Kent moved the ball around too, keeping the pressure on the batsmen in a much-improved performance in the field.
Former New Zealand international Hamish Marshall joined Alex Gidman at the crease, while for the 18th over, Mitch Claydon replaced the excellent Haggett at the Nackington Road end – the former Somerset seamer’s figures of 8-4-13-1 highlighting his probing and hard-working spell. Claydon found Kent’s fourth wicket in his second over, as Marshall was snared down the legside, caught by Jones for 15, as Gloucestershire stumbled to 41-4.
Gidman was joined by Gareth Roderick, and the pair saw their side through to lunch at 84-4, but not before the former had hit Kent skipper Tredwell back over his head for a four and a six in the same over.
Post-lunch, Calum Haggett was once again the man to make the breakthrough for Kent, as he coaxed an edge from Alex Gidman which went to James Tredwell at first slip, the Gloucestershire captain falling three short of his half-century.
He was replaced at the crease by his brother Will, who put on a partnership of 42 with Roderick before it was broken by Darren Stevens, the first ball of a new spell snaffling the younger Gidman down the legside for 13, leaving Gloucester 138-6.
With both Gidmans back in the hutch, Roderick put on an excellent partnership with Tom Smith, and brought up his maiden first class century shortly after tea, the 21-year-old’s previous top score being 79. This was a vital innings, and one which went a long way to stemming the flow of wickets after Kent’s successes in the opening session.
The new ball was taken as soon as it became available, and Charlie made good use of it, as Smith edged through to Geraint Jones for 32, his partnership with Roderick worth 109 runs, and then David Payne (4) also edged behind, this time Jones taking an excellent diving catch, leaving the visitors 257-8.
As Kent strived for the final two wickets to complete the victory, the extra half-hour was taken. When Tredwell picked up his first wicket of the match, as Craig Miles was bowled through the gate with just under 20 minutes still to play, it looked like Kent would wrap it up before the close, but South African-born wicket-keeper Roderick had other ideas, bringing up his 150 in the final over of the day, and seeing his side to the close with last man Liam Norwell.
With the weather still widely expected to play a crucial role on the final day, James Tredwell and his Kent team will be keeping their fingers cross that they can get onto the field long enough to pick up the final wicket, and their second County Championship victory of the season.
Kent won the toss and elected to bat
Kent side: Northeast, Key, Bell-Drummond, Nash, Harmison, Stevens, Jones, Tredwell, Claydon, Haggett, Shreck.
Gloucestershire side: Dent, Klinger, Howell, A Gidman, Marshall, Roderick, W Gidman, Smith, Payne, Miles, Norwell.
Close of play day three: Gloucestershire 80 for 0d (Dent 44 not out) and 307-9 (Roderick 152 not out, Shreck 4-65, Haggett 2-32) need 92 more runs to win, chasing Kent 474 all out (Stevens 126, Harmison 106) and 4-0d.