Kent (222) made to toil in the field by Northamptonshire (117 & 300-7) who lead by 195 runs after day three of County Championship game at Canterbury

A tough day in the field for Kent put their LV= Insurance County Championship match back in the balance on Easter Saturday.

There had been 22 wickets in the first two days of the Division 1 game at Canterbury - but only five wickets fell on day three.

It leaves Kent still requiring another three second-innings wickets and then with a reasonable total to chase down for victory.

"It's delicately-poised I think," said Kent bowling coach Simon Cook.

"It's still in our favour, though. I think the wicket is flattening out - there's been three heavy rollers on it so far, and it seems to be deadening out.

"It was quite lively day one but, yeah, it's certainly flattened out a little bit more.

"There was a good partnership there by Berg and Keogh. They showed, with that application, you can score runs on it.

"Hopefully, that'll bode well for us tomorrow."

Northamptonshire opener Hassan Azad and captain Luke Procter made a good start in the opening hour of the day as the pair were largely untroubled.

The visitors’ first bit of good fortune came at the end of the 29th over when Azad edged wide of gully off Michael Hogan (0-74) for a boundary while the same veteran bowler went up for a caught behind, a few minutes later. But the umpire remained unmoved.

Azad brought up his fifty and put Northamptonshire ahead when he pulled Matt Quinn to the square-leg boundary.

With the next ball, Quinn (2-70) trapped Azad lbw for 51, though, as Kent made a much-needed breakthrough with the away team’s score at 106-3.

Daniel Bell-Drummond (2-42) was introduced into the attack and got the prize wicket of Procter, who fell for 38, with just his second ball. The 34-year-old miscued into the leg-side where Joe Denly set himself well, kept his cool and