Harry Finch batted for nearly five hours to record a valiant century for Kent which defied Essex from claiming a LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 victory inside three days on Friday.

The 28-year-old’s 114 at a strike-rate of 50 was his first three-figure score since he compiled one two years ago against his former county, Sussex, and the fifth of his first-class career.

Essex, looking for a fourth successive win to put pressure on leaders Surrey, endured a tough day at Chelmsford as Finch led the way in partnerships of 93 and 72 with opener Ben Compton (39) and Joey Evison (56 not out) for the second and fifth wickets.

Simon Harmer whirled away for 38 more overs, taking 3-64, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Kent taking the match into the final day and ensuring the home team will have to bat again. The visitors finished 265-7, 14 runs ahead.

Essex had taken a wicket with the last ball of day two but waited until the 14th ball of the afternoon session on day three for their second.

It needed a spectacular one-handed diving catch at leg gully by Harmer to end Ben Compton’s 122-ball stay, too, after the Kent second-wicket stand had eaten into Essex’s 251-run first-innings advantage.

Until that breakthrough moment, it looked as though Compton and Finch had bedded in for the long haul, scoring only a solitary leg-bye amid one 19-ball sequence. Compton regularly thrust out a long-left leg to repel Harmer to the extent the off-spinner conceded just 16 runs from his first 11 overs of the day.

Finch, playing only his second Championship game of the season, was by far the more aggressive player in that second-wicket stand and reached his half-century from 105 balls. But his second 50 was quicker, taking only 78 balls.

Jack Leaning adopted the Compton mantle, as he batted for 42 balls before one kept low from Harmer and trapped him lbw for six from a 35-run stand.

The injured Jordan Cox emerged with Tawanda Muyeye as his runner. However, the helper wasn’t required to move on Cox’s behalf as the wicketkeeper was scoreless for 16 deliveries before Sam Cook (2-43) appealed successfully for lbw.

The hosts might have broken the stubborn fifth-wicket resistance between Finch and Evison much earlier.

Evison, on 10, received a double reprieve in the blink of an eye when dropped by wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, who then missed a potential stumping as Evison overbalanced. It was a miss which proved costly.

Essex tossed the new ball to Harmer after just three overs and, with his third ball of his spell, he struck as Finch swept loosely to Paul Walter at short midwicket.

Joe Denly, batting despite suffering back spasms, felt his side when he on-drove his first ball for four, but he only lasted another six deliveries before he turned Harmer into Sir Alastair Cook’s hands at slip.

Evison nudged a single to reach a 96-ball 50 before Grant Stewart hit consecutive boundaries to take Kent within a run of making Essex bat again.

The Italian international tried to take them into the black with another boundary but only picked out long-off to give Critchley (1-42) a wicket.

Hamid Qadri (7 not out) was unbeaten with 21-year-old Evison at day three’s close.

Finch said: “We’re feeling pretty good.

“I thought we showed a lot of fight today. It was, obviously, disappointing to lose a couple of wickets in that last session but, overall, that’s the sort of thing you’d ask for today: To come out and show some fight.

“We’ve got a lead now and, hopefully, we can get a bigger lead tomorrow morning.

“The pitch is tricky. It’s starting to spin a bit more consistently now. They’ve got an unbelievable spinner in Harmer. Plus, it’s nipping around a little bit as well.

“There was always a ball there that kept you honest.

“I just wanted to keep it simple and play as straight as possible. My main thought was just to get off a pair! Luckily, I did that off the first ball of the day.

“I also got a nought in the first innings against Warwickshire last week, so I need to stop that trend. It makes the second innings a lot more nerve-racking.

“My celebration was quite muted because, if I’m honest, I was quite focused on the whole day and trying to get us into a lead if possible. Now it feels great, but I think I probably left a few runs out there, which is disappointing.

“You never know on this pitch. If you get a 150-run lead, something could happen.

“Compo’s looked really good this game, back to his normal self.

“In the first innings, he played brilliantly and, today, he looked as if he was going to be there right at the end. I think that’s the best catch I’ve ever seen [by Harmer to dismiss Compton], it was an incredible catch.

“And then, Joey played brilliantly at the end there. It would have been nice if Joey and me had been there at the end but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We want to try and get as many as we can tomorrow. If we were five down there at the end, it’s a really different feeling tomorrow, but we’ve still got three wickets left and, if we can get 100-plus runs, you just never know.

“Hopefully, the pitch falls apart a little bit.

“I think, for us, we just have to show the same fight we showed today and who knows what happens.”