Tawanda Muyeye and Ben Compton both hit centuries as Kent coasted to an eight-wicket run win over Middlesex in the Rothesay County Championship at Canterbury on Sunday.

Muyeye made a fluent unbeaten 125 and Compton a stylish 124 not out in a record-breaking partnership worth 225, after England’s Zak Crawley showed a glimpse of form with 58, having being dropped on nought.

Earlier Middlesex were all out for 311, setting Kent what looked like a stiff target of 316 to win. Ben Geddes made 75 and Zafar Gohar contributed 57 down the order, but Gohar was the only visiting bowler to enjoy any success, claiming two wickets in two balls to reduce Kent to 91 for two.

That, however, was as good as it got for the visitors and Compton hit the winning single with 5.4 overs of day three remaining.

Middlesex began the day in a strong position on 222 for six and with a 226-run lead in the bank, but they lost Geddes early when he pulled Jack Leaning to the backward square leg boundary and was caught by a tumbling Joey Evison, having added just two to his overnight score.

Blake Cullen made a useful 22 and saw off eight overs of the new ball before he edged Grant Stewart to Daniel Bell-Drummond at first slip.

Stewart then got Toby Roland-Jones lbw for a fifth-ball duck but the last wicket duo of Zafar Gohar and Henry Brookes milked the bowlers for 39 runs.

Gohar pulled Gilchrist for a huge six to take the lead past 300 and only perished when he cut the same bowler to Jas Singh on the backward point boundary.

There was an eerie silence when Crawley, on nought in the first over, edged Roland-Jones to Geddes, who dropped him at third slip. He then drove Roland-Jones for successive fours, edged one through gully, clipped a six over mid-wicket and looked largely unmolested on his way to the fifty he reached by sweeping Gohar to third man for four.

Gohar, however, undid him in his next over, with a ball that pitched near middle and spun back to hit his off stump. Bell-Drummond went to the very next ball, bowled by a delivery that pitched outside and hit off.

Yet Muyeye blocked the hat-trick ball and at tea Kent looked favourites on 164 for two. A pitch that looked so demonic on day one seemed to have been exorcised. Gohar switched ends and switched back again. Muyeye creamed Brookes for a six over square leg that ended up in the car park and drove Gafar through mid off to reach his hundred.

Bowling at Compton’s head proved futile and he cut Gohar through point for four to reach three figures, by which stage Middlesex seemed drained of hope.

Muyeye seemed in a hurry to get it done in three days, dumping Gohar into the upper deck of the Cowdrey stand for a huge six.

It was the highest ever third-wicket partnership for Kent v Middlesex, eclipsing the 196 made by both Bob Wilson and Colin Cowdrey in 1954 and David Fulton and Matt Walker in 2004.

Compton staked his claim for a place in Kent’s Blast side by hitting the same bowler for a maximum over long on, for only the sixth six of his career and he had the honour of hitting the winning run when he nudged Nathan Fernandes through mid-off.

Kent’s Ben Compton said: “Obviously we’re on a bit of a high right now, it’s our second win on the bounce. We’re just delighted, I think it was a complete team performance.

“We saw on day one that it was a pretty lively wicket, so credit to the boys and all the bowlers really set the game up for us and credit to Grant Stewart and Harry Finch for getting us out of a sticky situation on day one so yeah, everyone’s very chuffed and everyone’s contributed in some way.

“You don’t need me to tell you how talented Tawanda is and when things are going well how good he can look. I was very impressed by his maturity and his determination to try and stay there to see if off at the end so that was an encouraging sign for him and I think he’s moving from strength to strength.

“I think his transition from dashing run player to serious run scorer, I think that will see him ascend highly in the game so I was really encouraged by his performances today and also last week at Northampton where he scored a wonderful 70 that helped set the game up for us.”(Any plans for his day off?)

“I’m just going to get stuck into a series and chill out with my wife, I’m sorry that’s not what everyone wants to hear!”

Kent’s Tawanda Muyeye said: “I think the game was in the balance wen we went into bat but I think Zak’s start was unreal with Compo and that obviously gave us the foundations. I came in, was pretty calm and pretty happy to go about my innings and bounce off Compo, who batted outstandingly and let me by myself.

“I think (Grant Stewart and Harry Finch’s) were probably the two best knocks of the game because the pitch was doing all sorts on the first day. I think Middlesex did pretty well to get 200 and we did pretty well to get close because that was the toughest it was to bat I think in the whole game, so them to keep us pretty much level with Middlesex I think was outstanding.

(On facing the hat-trick ball) “When I was walking out I looked up and saw I was facing the hat-trick ball but I just tried to stay in my zone and my bubble. Obviously I’ve been working a lot in terms of my gameplan and mentally how I’m going to be going about my business and for me to be there at the end becauseyou want to win games for your club and show that you’re growing as a person every year.

“I think if I look back at me last year, in that situation, who knows what could have happened. I could have let them into the game but I’m just really happy that me and Compo have pretty much worked together, bounced off each other and kept each other going.

“Since he’s joined this club he (Compton) is so important for us. He’s very different to a lot of us as batters but because of the way he goes about his businessit allows a lot us to just be ourselves and play our shots. You just always remember that Ben’s at the other end so whatever happens it’s fine. He’s just outstanding for us he just churns runs every single year, he just has a way.”

Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones said: “Firstly credit to them for the way they played, but yeah from our side obviously we’re pretty disappointed with how the game’s ended up, I certainly thought that we fought pretty hard at the start of the day t get to what we thought was a competitive score.

“We definitely feel like conditions might have changed a bit but I think if we hold our hands up we’ve probably not produced our best over the three days overall.

“I feel like the standards of the group remain extremely high and there have definitely been some excellent performances (over the past two games.) I think we set a really good standard with the ball against Lancashire and even though we had them I think 70-odd for five in the first innings we were still a bit below our best in that instance and probably felt a little bit fortunate to be then.

“I think ideally you sort of recognise that and find a bit more of an opportunity to click and find a bit more of a cutting edge to maximise the opportunity we had.

“I think that would obviously have given us a chance to drive the game a bit more. There was a bit of grass on the wicket … but fundamentally as a team when you’ve got good runs on the board like that then you can really apply some scoreboard pressure and make life trickier than we probably did for the batters.”

Ben Compton with Tawanda Muyeye. Picture by Ian Scammell.