Zak Crawley fell just nine runs short of a century as Kent continued to have the upper hand against Northamptonshire at Canterbury.

The visitors were reduced to 47-2 in their second innings, still trailing Kent by 58 runs at the end of day two in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash.

It was Crawley's best score in the longer format of the county game since his 105 against Hampshire in September 2020.

Crawley, 25, said: “I was just trying to play every ball on its merits and they bowled really well, they didn’t give us much to score from.

"As I got in I tried to push on and score a bit more quickly, but they bowled pretty well all day to be honest and we ended up getting 222 when we could have got 300 and put the game to bed, but we’re in a good position.

“It was tough to start and once you get in you never feel that you can score quickly. I never felt that I could just hit through the line like on some other pitches, there’s definitely a ball with everyone’s name on it, there’s enough in there for the bowlers.

“It’s a question of not letting them score too many runs, we’ll try and set aggressive fields and get a few nicks. We don’t want to be too defensive. If you bowl the exact same ball twice ones going to go dead straight and the other’s going to nick. It’s just one of those pitches that comes out of nowhere.

“Sometimes when it’s doing more you’ve got to score quicker, you’ve got to put them under pressure a bit more. That’s what we’re trying to do at England, that’s the style that England want to play so they want to see people in county cricket who can play the same way.

“I think I naturally score quite quickly, that’s my natural game. I think it’s something I’ve got carried away with in recent times. I scored quickly after I had that period of slowness at the beginning, from 20 to 90 I must have been at a 75 strike rate I reckon so I’ve just got to bide my time a bit more.

"There was a nice turn out today and it’s always good to score runs for Kent. I was pleased with [the] score and I’d have taken it if offered at the start of the day.

“I think we’ve played well so far, we’re definitely on top. The pitch is slow and it’s not easy to score quickly, there’s enough in there for the bowlers so, we’ll see how it pans out tomorrow. The weather makes a big difference with the pitch, so hopefully it’s a bit overcast.”

Only 26 overs were bowled on day one and although the weather had improved drastically when Northamptonshire resumed on 89-7, batting didn’t seem any easier as Matt Quinn (4-24) struck with the second ball of the morning, getting James Sales lbw for five.

Gareth Berg went down fighting, hitting three successive fours off Michael Hogan and he put on 32 with Chris Tremain, but the highest partnership of the innings ended when Quinn had the latter caught behind for nine. With his next delivery Quinn bowled Jack White for a golden duck, leaving Berg stranded on 21 as Northants were dismissed for 117.

Kent’s openers Ben Compton and Crawley put on 42 for the first wicket, but the former was caught behind for 25, leaving the hosts on 50-1 at lunch.

The Spitfires advanced to 90-1 when Tremain revived the visitors with two wickets in three balls. Daniel Bell-Drummond fell for 27 to a steepling catch by Josh Cobb at short fine leg and Joe Denly was lbw for a second-ball duck.

Crawley steered Kent into the lead before pulling Rob Keogh to backward square leg for three to reach his half-century, but White (4-57) then responded with two quick wickets.

Jack Leaning was lbw for 26 before Jordan Cox edged the third ball he faced down the leg side to Lewis McManus for five.

Kent had moved to 192-5 at tea and Crawley looked set to reach three figures when he misjudged a Tremain delivery and Berg took a dolly in the covers. Joey Evison then edged White behind for five and Grant Stewart was caught behind off Tremain (5-44) for a four-ball duck.

With just the tail to bat with, Sam Billings hit out. He was dropped in the deep by Tremain off White and smashed the next ball back over White’s head for six, before he fell in hideous fashion to Tremain, the ball catching the toe of his raised bat before it looped to McManus.

Hogan was dropped in the slips off the next ball and he cracked the four that steered the Kent lead past three figures before the innings was concluded when White had Quinn lbw for two.

Quinn had Ricardo Vasconcelos caught by a leaping Compton for four and Evison had Sam Whiteman caught behind for 12, but mildly farcical scenes ensued as the floodlights came on at 7pm, with batters Hassan Azad and Luke Procter apparently keen to leave the field.

After a lengthy discussion in the middle, play continued with Kent bowling their spinners Leaning and Denly for an over each, but no further wickets fell.