Kent head coach Matthew Walker could not hide away from their shortcomings with the ball on a rain-affected day against Essex.

After rain delayed any play until beyond lunch on day two of the LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash, Essex moved their score to 289-1 with Tom Westley and Nick Browne both scoring unbeaten centuries at Canterbury.

Walker said: “It’s been a stop-start game so far and the weather’s got the better of us unfortunately, but we find ourselves in a not dissimilar position to last week.

“We’re behind in the game, we haven’t bowled as well as we should have done and they’ve batted pretty well on a pretty good surface.

“I thought Wes Agar was outstanding, I thought he really showed how to bowl, on that surface with good pace and good carry. He kept going and was a real threat all day, we just couldn’t back it up at the other end.

“No one else seemed to get in any rhythm or put any pressure on and it became pretty easy batting for the most part.

“It’s the same problem as at Warwickshire. We just didn’t bowl enough balls in the right areas, it’s as simple as that.

“Our length percentage was well down, we bowled both sides of the wicket again and it showed on that wicket. There’s not much margin for error and if you stray from a good area you get punished.

“The numbers tell the story, really, although you don’t need the numbers. You can just watch it and you can see that we were well short.

“There were very few passages when we gained control or put pressure on. When we did we looked a bit of a threat but it just wasn’t enough.

“The bowlers are trying. There’s a lot of talk around where we want to bowl, it’s not rocket science. We try to get the ball in the right area over and over again.

“They are trying but they’ve not been able to do it and that unfortunately is a lack of execution, which followed in from last week.

“It’s frustrating because against Northants we were very good and got the rewards, but in the last two games we’ve been well short and against two really good batters you’re going to get punished.

“The honest truth is that from this position it’s unlikely we can win this game. We go into day three, they’re still batting and I suspect they’ll keep going and try to get a big score, put pressure on us and try and bowl us out twice.”

Westley scored an unbeaten 138, which contrasted with Browne’s more measured 105 not out, but only 32 overs were possible.

Play got under way at 3.15pm and Westley reached three figures from 129 balls with a straight drive off Conor McKerr that flew to the Pavilion End boundary. It was 245-1 at tea, with the duo adding 81 runs in 22 overs.

Browne took almost twice as long to pass three figures, hitting his 236th delivery, from Hamid Qadri, for two through the covers. Browne’s form had dipped since his 238 not out against Somerset last July and this was the first time he’d made even a half-century in 14 innings.

The leaden skies encouraged him to accelerate and he smacked a four off Joey Evison before bad light forced the players off at 5:40pm.