Jack Leaning celebrated his second century of the season to boost Kent’s hopes of avoiding relegation from LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 on Wednesday.

Stand-in captain Leaning struck 112 as the pitch became more conducive to batting as Kent totted up 269 second-innings runs before they took four second-innings Hampshire wickets.

Joe Weatherley was exceptional for his unbeaten 54 but Hampshire lost openers Felix Organ and Ian Holland plus night-watchmen Keith Barker and Nick Gubbins while knocking 105 off the required total in 35 overs - with 273 runs still required for victory on day three.

Having taken three evening wickets on day one - albeit two were night-watchmen - Hampshire were optimistic they could blast through the remaining seven Kent batters, have a modest target to chase and re-ignite their Division 1 title tilt.

But they were in for another chastening day, as the pitch somewhat flattened out and their visitors took advantage.

Tawanda Muyeye and Daniel Bell-Drummond came out with a game-plan to attack with the pair driving with glamorous abandon, the pair putting on a carefree 35. Muyeye gained a life on 34 when dropped at third slip but failed to use it and was leg before to Kyle Abbott in the following over for 39.

Bell-Drummond continued on his way to 40, with all but six of his runs coming in boundaries, with 51 added with Leaning before he was bowled playing around a James Fuller delivery. Ollie Robinson also fell before lunch for a 14-ball 19, edging a slog to first slip.

The afternoon session saw Leaning come into his own, though. He set up outside of his crease and then lurched further forward to try and get to the ball before it significantly moved. His plan worked as he comfortably collected runs, most often guiding to third man. His 50 came in 89 balls.

Leaning is on course to average above 40 in his first two full seasons at Kent, since moving from Yorkshire in 2019, but last season, his failure to convert blackened his 745 a tad. But against Hampshire, he turned a 50 to a century for the second time this summer after doing so just once in seven attempts in 2021.

He has almost matched his overall tally from last year, he is up to 714, and has now scored two centuries - this being in much trickier conditions than his 128 against Gloucestershire at home.

The right-hander reached his eighth first-class century by advancing and dispatching a six over midwicket. He had batted through over an hour after lunch with Harry Finch for 78 before the latter was LBW to Abbott for 24.

From there, wickets fell more regularly as Leaning scored all but one run off the bat in stands of 17 and 21 with Joey Evison (1) and Nathan Gilchrist (11). Evison was caught behind, Leaning upper-cutting to deep point and Gilchrist picking out long-on to end the innings.

Only Hampshire sides in 1983, 1985, 1990 and 2006 had scored greater than 378 runs to win a match.

Chances of replicating those performances got off to a bad start when Holland was leg before to Matt Quinn (2-26) in the fourth over.

Organ and Weatherley bravely copped knocks on the hand during a ferocious Conor McKerr (0-9) over with the home-grown duo putting on 68.

But after back-to-back boundaries, Organ edged Harry Podmore (1-23) behind. He left the middle banging his bat against his helmet in frustration before Barker looped a bouncer to midwicket off Gilchrist (1-26).

Quinn then picked up his eighth wicket of the match at the Ageas Bowl as Gubbins left a delivery that nipped back into his off-stump.

The smattering of wickets meant Weatherley shyly celebrated his 94-ball half-century - which was his first since April.

Leaning said: "We've got ourselves into a really strong position in the game.

"We fought really hard with the bat. At the start of the day, we set out to ideally get a lead of 250 so to come away almost 380 ahead and bowl as well as we did was pleasing to watch.

"The boys backed it up with the ball. The wickets didn't come as quickly as the first innings but we controlled the rate and bowled in the right areas. We were outstanding as a team today.

"The pitch has definitely flattened out but we saw that some are starting to go up and down which will make it tough for their guys tomorrow.

"I'm trying to be a bit more proactive in my game to score a bit more. I did that today and it was my day. To get those runs in a tough situation like this and get the team in a good position as captain is pleasing.

"In the context of our season, tomorrow is an important day.

"If we can come away with the win, it puts us in a really strong position, going into the last round of fixtures [when Kent are at home to Somerset] in terms of staying in Division 1."