Kent (564 & 91-2) beat Gloucestershire (438 & 213) by eight wickets to post first win in County Championship at Canterbury

Kent claimed their first LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 win of the season on Wednesday afternoon.

They defeated Gloucestershire by eight wickets after chasing a modest target of 88 to win at Canterbury in the final session.

Glenn Phillips led Gloucestershire’s resistance, batting for more than three hours to make 59, but the visitors were all out for 213.

Gloucestershire started the day four 37-5, still 89 behind the hosts’ first-innings total of 564 but facing a Kent attack minus Matt Milnes, who was being rested as a precaution after feeling a niggle late on day three.

Miles Hammond was on nought when he clipped Jacob Duffy to George Linde in the first over of the day, but the chance went down and for the next 40 minutes Gloucestershire chipped away at Kent’s lead, until Chris Dent tried to drive Duffy (5-65) and edged the ball to Jordan Cox at second slip. Cox could only parry the chance, but a diving Sam Billings took the rebound, removing Dent for 32.

Linde then got one to turn and bowl Hammond for 41, the ball pitching almost a foot outside off before crashing into the stumps.

Ryan Higgins took two from Jack Leaning to nudge the visitors into the lead and Linde couldn’t hold a difficult caught and bowled chance from Higgins in the final over before lunch, at which point Gloucestershire were 16 ahead with three wickets in hand.

Higgins had survived half-an-hour of the afternoon session when he played on to Matt Quinn and was bowled for 30 and Daniel Bell-Drummond then had Ollie Price caught by substitute fielder Will Harby for three at square leg, from just his third delivery.

An elegant cover drive saw Phillips past 50, but he eventually fell to a juggling slip catch by Cox off Linde, leaving Zafar