Rain came to Kent's rescue against Surrey as they moved off the foot of Division 1 of the LV= Insurance County Championship on Sunday.

Just 9.2 overs were possible on the final day at Beckenham, with Kent moving from their overnight score of 82-1 to 114-1 during two mini-sessions, still 327 runs behind Surrey’s first innings score of 671-9.

Surrey had been favourites after forcing Kent to follow on, but conditions deteriorated throughout the day and play was abandoned at 3.48pm, Kent taking 10 points and Surrey 16.

Ben Compton was unbeaten on 63, while night-watchman Matt Milnes was 16 not out at stumps.

The draw lifts Kent off the bottom of the table, ahead of Gloucestershire.

“It’s a sense of déjà vu really, we never were able to wrestle any advantage our way," said Kent coach Matt Walker.

"The spell after lunch on day one was really promising actually, but we have a moment where we’re OK and make some inroads and then I think the momentum slowly and gradually shifts and then accelerates.

“I think the problem we’ve had, on these better surfaces this season is there’s almost an air or resignation that comes across the ground.

"That’s not to say that any of the lads give up, but I think there’s a frustration and almost a sense of urgency to make things happen.

"Probably at the end of day we haven’t executed our skills well enough.

"There have been moments where we’ve been really good individually, there’s been a lot of runs in the dressing room, individually there’s been some good spells of bowling, but to get to where you want to get to in a four-day game, it’s got to be over the whole piece really.

"You can afford half an hour or so but you can’t afford a bad session and that’s what’s happened.

“We found ourselves very quickly out of the game: 671 for 9 - you’re not going to get anywhere near winning a game of cricket when that happens and you’re in a dogfight again.”

Day four began with a minute’s silence in memory of Andrew Symonds, who played for Kent between 1999 and 2004, following his death in a car accident.

A break in the weather meant play started on time and the hosts resumed on 82-1, still 359 behind.

Conditions were overcast and the ball swung almost immediately but Compton reached 50 in the first over when he pulled Daniel Worrall for a single.

Light rain began to fall and the players went off after 29 minutes, Kent having moved to 108 without further loss.

Lunch was taken early and although play resumed at 1.35pm, by then it was already raining again.

After nine increasingly moist minutes, during which Kent advanced to 114, the players came off again, Compton having added six to his score.

After two further hours of waiting and with no prospect of improvement, the game was abandoned as a draw.