A tense final day could be in store in the LV= Insurance County Championship at Canterbury, where Northamptonshire lead Kent by 252, having reached 284-5 at stumps, aided by an unbeaten 101 from Ryan Rickelton. 

On a see-sawing day at the St. Lawrence, Kent were all out for 335, adding just 48 to their overnight score for a modest lead of 32. Jack White took four for 62 and Ben Sanderson four for 63, while Jordan Cox was the top scorer with 72.  

The hosts then reduced Northamptonshire to 64 for three, but a stand of 158 between Rickelton and James Neesham batted them out of immediate danger. 

Neesham’s 91 came from just 100 balls and having started day as three as underdogs, Northamptonshire now look a strong bet for at least a draw against their Division One relegation rivals. 

The hosts had ended day two eyeing a substantial lead after closing on 287 for five, but Northamptonshire mopped up their final five wickets in little over an hour. 

Cox was the first man to go, having added just nine to his overnight score of 63 when he left a straight one to White and was bowled.  

George Linde then edged a Sanderson delivery through the slips for the four that put Kent in the lead but it was his only scoring shot as he nicked the same bowler behind in his next over. 

Grant Stewart went for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it seven, hooking Sanderson to White at fine leg and when Sam Billings edged White to Ricardo Vasconcelos at first slip for 44, he repeatedly jabbed his bat into the ground in frustration. 

Showing little faith in the number 11 Matt Quinn, Matt Milnes then holed out to Sanderson and was caught by Josh Cobb for four. 

Northamptonshire slashed Kent’s lead to five by the lunch interval, but they lost Emilio Gay soon after, when he got a leading edge to Grant Stewart and was caught by Ben Compton.  

Stewart then snared Vasconcelos, who was the victim of a tumbling catch by Billings for 19 and with Luke Procter suffering from a foot injury, Rob Keogh was the next man in. When he was given out caught behind for 13, trying to hook Daniel Bell-Drummond, Nothamptonshire were in deep trouble but Rickelton and Neesham turned the game with a stand that lasted over two hours. 

While Rickelton paced himself, Neesham thrashed his way past 50 before eventually getting caught and bowled by Joe Denly nine runs short of a debut hundred. 

Josh Cobb then came in for a quickfire innings of 26, which ended when Zak Crawley held a sharp slip catch off Linde, before Rickelton reached three figures just before the close with a straight drive off Stewart for two and while all results remain possible, the visitors will be far happier at the end of day three than they were at the start of it. 

Northamptonshire’s Ryan Rickelton said: “It was pretty tough when I walked in there to be honest, it was tough to score. The ball was stopping and they were getting some variable bounce so I was just trying to make sure that they weren’t going to get me out.  

“Jimmy came in and took the pressure off me quite nicely and then allowed me to get into my innings. It set the game up nicely for hopefully a big finish tomorrow. 

“It (the start) was beautiful, I don’t think you could have scripted it any better for us to be honest. At five down we thought we were settling in until at least the afternoon session but Jack and Sandy really put up their hand and made inroads which made our lives a lot easier. Any lead’s a good lead so it was nice to get over that and set it up for tomorrow. 

“The partnership was crucial, obviously it took the game away from them, Jimmy came out with a bit more of a counter-attacking style, was willing to take risks for the reward and things worked out nicely for him. He was nine short of a hundred and I thought he really deserved it, but he’s put us in a good position now and we can hopefully dictate tomorrow’s session.” 

Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond said: “If we can try and do what they did to us today, get five wickets before lunch and get chasing around 300 it would obviously be a very good game.  

“We were pretty positive coming into today, but those things happen and we’ve just got to go and do it to them tomorrow. They collapsed in their first innings so it’s potentially one of those wickets where if you keep the dots up and dry them up then wickets could potentially fall in a heap. 

“Grant bowled really well, credit to him, he’s a very skilful bowler and he made two huge breakthroughs for us. To get them 60 for two of whatever it was we were definitely in the game but Neesham played a good knock for them with Rickelton. 

“Whatever the target is ultimately we respect them, they’re a very good team, they won’t make it easy for us and we’ve got to get the breakthrough tomorrow morning to make the win a possibility.”