Kent trail Surrey by 359 runs going into day four with nine wickets left after following on at Beckenham

Kent will need to bat out the final day of their clash with Surrey at Beckenham to claim a draw.

The hosts were bowled out for 230 on Saturday in their first innings and will resume the final day of their LV= County Championship clash on 82-1, still 359 runs away from making Surrey bat again.

The day’s major talking point was when Kent opener Ben Compton had his helmet dislodged after ducking into a ball from Jamie Overton that didn’t climb as high as he expected. Compton’s helmet rattled into the stumps to spark Surrey celebrations but the umpires correctly ruled not out due to a relatively recent ECB regulation.

Batsmen are no longer deemed out when their helmet or a piece of protective equipment hits the stumps and dislodges the bails when playing in domestic cricket, a directive introduced by the ECB in 2020 to improve the safety of batsmen.

It means Compton, who was on 44, at the time survived what was a hostile spell by Overton.

However, having escaped to the other end to face the relative calm of spinner Will Jacks, Compton edged behind on 47 - a decision he clearly felt hard done by.

It was the third of four dismissals in the day’s opening session as Kent, having navigated their way comfortably to 71-1 lost four wickets for 39 runs.

Daniel Bell-Drummond was the first to go, brilliantly taken one-handed low down at second slip by Ollie Pope from Overton’s third ball of the day.

Jack Leaning made nine before he was bowled by Jacks and Jordan Cox departed just before lunch for 12, nicking a wide ball from Daniel Worrall that he could have left alone.

Darren Stevens was yorked by Overton early in the afternoon session for seven but George Linde and Ollie Robinson led Kent’s recovery.

They put on 41 for the seventh