LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Canterbury:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY THREE: Warwickshire 250 & 259-4, Kent 377
Kent 7pts, Warwicks 5pts
Match scorecard

Bell was trapped lbw by Amjad Khan to fall just short of a century

Ian Bell hit 94 and Ian Westwood 68 to set up an intriguing final day between Warwickshire and Kent at Canterbury.

With Kent resuming on 374-9, the Bears wasted little time in wrapping up the innings for 377, a lead of 127.

Opener Darren Maddy fell cheaply, but Bell and Westwood shared a stand of 157 to put Warwickshire in front

Jonathan Trott (65 no) took the score to 259-4 at the close, a lead of 131, with the Bears hoping for quick final-day runs to put Kent under pressure.

Darren Stevens had not moved from his overnight 57 when he heaved across the line and was trapped lbw, giving Rikki Clarke career-best figures of 6-63.

Maddy then fell lbw to Amjad Khan with just three on the board, but Bell and Westwood batted stoically as Warwickshire looked to make amends for the first innings, when they were shot out for 250.

They were together for 55 overs before Westwood was trapped in front by an arm-ball from part-time off-spinner Martin van Jaarsveld.

Bell also fell leg before soon after, to a shooting off-cutter from Amjad, but Trott continued where his England team-mate left off and batted through the final session to still be there at the close.

He took almost two hours to post a dogged half-century, sharing a stand of 88 with Jim Troughton (24), who was caught by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones off Stevens from the last ball of the day.

Kent captain Rob Key told BBC Radio Kent:

"It was always going to be tougher to bowl them out second time around as the pitch had got a bit better. But it's an even contest now really.

"I thought we actually bowled pretty well, which showed how good a pitch it was, and we probably missed [off-spinner] James Tredwell in all honesty.

"But the game's in the balance, and if we get wickets now we've got a good chance of chasing down a score. It'll be interesting and the key factor will probably be their spinner and how he bowls on it."

However Kent batsman Darren Stevens was disappointed with his team's efforts.

"It wasn't one of our best days," said Stevens. "We did have a decent lead but we weren't good enough. We got a wicket early doors but we weren't good enough from there on in with the new ball.

"We didn't stick to our game plan, but they've got just over 120 lead and four wickets down so if we can get a few more wickets in the morning, hopefully the game will be pushed in our favour."

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