Kent (158 & 27-1) trail Warwickshire (453-4dec) by 268 runs after day three of County Championship Division 1 game at Edgbaston

Kent face an uphill struggle to avoid a heavy defeat at Warwickshire on the final day of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash.

The hosts moved the game on at great pace on Saturday and enforced the follow-on before removing England opener Zak Crawley for the second time in the day.

Kent's first innings was cut down by a superb collective effort by the Bears' seam attack. All five seamers took wickets as Hassan Ali led the way with 3-36 and England’s Chris Woakes picked up two wickets in his first championship match for 19 months.

After Warwickshire resumed on the third morning on 367-3, Sam Hain and Dan Mousley extended their partnership to 179 against ultra-defensive fields. With Kent a bowler down - Matt Quinn was off the field nursing the groin injury he collected on the first day - there were times when all nine outfielders were on the boundary.

Runs still came freely and Mousley collected his fourth six with a breathtaking ramp over the keeper’s head off Conor McKerr before falling six short of a maiden first class century when he hoisted spinner Jack Leaning to long on.

Hain (165 not out) and Michael Burgess added a swift 39 from 31 balls to take Warwickshire to maximum bating points at which point they declared to make the earliest possible start on the pursuit of 20 Kent wickets.

Chris Rushworth delivered the first two in a textbook new-ball spell as he trapped Crawley lbw for a sixth-ball duck and then also pinned Ben Compton in front.

When Joe Denly nicked an Ali outswinger to wicketkeeper Burgess, Kent were 63-3. Daniel Bell-Drummond survived a nervous start to unfurl some attractive strokes on his way to 40 but perished just after tea when he sliced a steeply lifting Ali delivery to gully.