BUTTER-FINGERED Kent may yet live to regret Sunday’s opening two sessions at The Rose Bowl where they allowed Frizzell Championship title-rivals Hampshire to wriggle out of following-on.

After a flurry of wickets in the final hour the visitors closed on 153 for seven for an overall lead of 274 to take into Monday’s fourth and final day.

Kent’s slightly precarious position in the game was made all the worse by the four, clear-cut chances that went begging in the opening two hours of the third day allowing Hampshire to recover from 172 for seven to reach 325 all out.

Instead of batting again Shaun Udal’s side made the most of the let-offs to reduce Kent’s advantage to 121 as Australian Andy Bickel with 87, Zimbabwean Sean Ervine (74) and South African Nic Pothas (74) made Kent pay for their blunders.

Chasing Kent’s first innings total of 446, the highest by any county at the Hedge End venue this summer, Hampshire looked certainties to follow-on when Kent bagged six wickets in Sunday’s first session.

The pitch, which had sweated under covers for much of Saturday afternoon when 68 overs were lost to rain, gave Kent’s seam attack plenty of assistance and wicket-taking opportunities proved plentiful.

Andrew Hall snared John Crawley with a vicious lifter that brushed the former England man’s outside edge and flew to second slip to set the tone for the morning.

But then Shane Watson and Ervine enjoyed four lives, the latter benefiting from three of them, as Kent’s fielders went off the boil.

Twice the ball flew through the gap between slip and the keeper, while at the other end Min Patel downed a stiff gully chance and Darren Stevens spilt a regulation opportunity at second slip.

The visitors finally got their act together after an hour of a blustery, overcast morning to claim four wickets in an 11-over purple patch that started with Matt Walker holding a running catch on the deep mid-wicket ropes after Watson hooked an Amjad Khan bouncer.

Ervine’s luck finally ran out when he played back to Patel’s fifth ball of the day to go leg before then Greg Lamb and Dimitri Mascarenhas both fell foul of the excessive seam movement to be caught in the cordon and make it 182 for seven at lunch.

Whether the Sunday roast proved indigestible or Kent simply went off the boil thereafter is unsure, but Pothas and Bichel ruled the roost after lunch to add 138 in 30 overs to surpass the follow-on figure of 296 in the process.

Hall sprinted in from deep mid-wicket to claim the tumbling catch that accounted for Bichel, then picked up the ball to snare Udal leg before with an off-cutter.

Patel polished the innings off to finish with three for 28 and move to 45 wickets for the campaign and within one of Kent’s leading wicket-taker Khan.

Batting again, initially in fading afternoon light, Kent were further hampered by injury and illness.

Skipper David Fulton was forced to bat with a runner after being hit on the foot and soon went for 25, then Martin van Jaarsveld’s bout of flu led to a promotion to number three for Niall O’Brien, who fell to the naggingly accurate Mascarenhas.

Once able to bat, van Jaarsveld came in to pass 1,000 runs for the summer as Stevens had done in scoring his excellent 101 from 136 balls on the opening day of the match.

He, Rob Key (36), Matt Walker (21) and Darren Stevens (22) all perished on this sporting pitch late in the day, ensuring Kent will have to bowl with greater discipline and take all their catches if they are to force victory on the fourth and final day.

SCORECARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Brown b Mascarenhas 45
R W T Key c Brown b Udal 88
M van Jaarsveld c Watson b Mascarenhas 1
M J Walker c Brown b Tremlett 9
D I Stevens c Ervine b Mascarenhas 101
J Kemp lbw b Bichel 69
A J Hall b Bichel 23
N J O’Brien c Mascarenhas b Bichel 9
M M Patel not out 54
S J Cook c Pothas b Bichel 4
A Khan c&b Udal 33
Extras 10

Total 446 all out after 118 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-80, 2-90, 3-101, 4-201, 5-282, 6-336, 7-350, 8-357, 9-381.

Bowling: Bichel 27-3-122-4, Tremlett 22-1-78-1, Mascarenhas 25-8-77-3, Ervine 11-0-56-0, Watson 14-0-43-0, Udal 18-4-51-2, Lamb 1-0-9-0.

Hampshire first innings

M J Brown c O’Brien b Hall 19
S M Ervine lbw b Patel 74
J P Crawley c Stevens b Hall 24
S R Watson c Walker b Khan 16
J J McLean c O’Brien b Khan 0
N Pothas not out 74
G A Lamb c Hall b Kemp 8
A D Mascarenhas c O’Brien b Patel 4
A J Bichel c Hall b Cook 87
S D Udal lbw b Hall 2
C T Tremlet c Key b Patel 0
Extras 17

Total 325 all out after 84.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-33, 2-99, 3-138, 4-140, 5-144, 6-167, 7-172, 8-310, 9-314

Bowling: Khan 20-3-89-2, Cook 21-2-74-1, Hall 19-3-62-3, Stevens 4-0-29-0, Patel 11.4-4-28-3, Kemp 8-1-30-1.

Kent second innings

D P Fulton c Pothas b Mascarenhas 25
R W T Key lbw b Ervine 36
N J O’Brien c McLean b Mascarenhas 7
M van Jaarsveld lbw b Watson 24
M J Walker b Bichel 21
D I Stevens lbw b Watson 22
S J Cook c Crawley b Udal 0
J Kemp not out 7
A J Hall not out 1
Extras 6

Total 158 for seven after 40 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-37, 2-46, 3-76, 4-114, 5-140, 6-141, 7-141,

Bowling: Bichel 10-1-36-1, Watson 8-2-33-2, Mascarenhas 9-3-33-2, Tremlett 1-0-9-0, Ervine 5-0-29-1, 7-0-19-1.