Kent (265-7 and 207 all out) lead Essex (458-8 declared) by 14 runs in County Championship Division 1 at Chelmsford

Harry Finch batted for nearly five hours to record a valiant century for Kent which defied Essex from claiming a LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 victory inside three days on Friday.

The 28-year-old’s 114 at a strike-rate of 50 was his first three-figure score since he compiled one two years ago against his former county, Sussex, and the fifth of his first-class career.

Essex, looking for a fourth successive win to put pressure on leaders Surrey, endured a tough day at Chelmsford as Finch led the way in partnerships of 93 and 72 with opener Ben Compton (39) and Joey Evison (56 not out) for the second and fifth wickets.

Simon Harmer whirled away for 38 more overs, taking 3-64, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Kent taking the match into the final day and ensuring the home team will have to bat again. The visitors finished 265-7, 14 runs ahead.

Essex had taken a wicket with the last ball of day two but waited until the 14th ball of the afternoon session on day three for their second.

It needed a spectacular one-handed diving catch at leg gully by Harmer to end Ben Compton’s 122-ball stay, too, after the Kent second-wicket stand had eaten into Essex’s 251-run first-innings advantage.

Until that breakthrough moment, it looked as though Compton and Finch had bedded in for the long haul, scoring only a solitary leg-bye amid one 19-ball sequence. Compton regularly thrust out a long-left leg to repel Harmer to the extent the off-spinner conceded just 16 runs from his first 11 overs of the day.

Finch, playing only his second Championship game of the season, was by far the more aggressive player in that second-wicket stand and reached his half-century from 105 balls. But his second 50 was quicker, taking only 78 balls.

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