Kent trail Hampshire by 32 runs after a disappointing day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Canterbury.

Resuming at 271-7, Kent were bowled out for 305 before the visitors reached 337-4 at stumps with Nathan Gilchrist taking 3-71, including the wicket of James Vince who made 111.

Kent head coach Matt Walker said: “We started OK, bowled quite well for the first 10 overs or so and threatened nicely, then the wheels sort of came off in that second session - 172 runs and 30-odd boundaries is well below our standard.

"They [the players] know that. We just couldn’t get our lengths right and couldn’t get our lines right. We just didn’t really have an answer.

“[Keith] Barker and [Mohammad] Abbas just stayed in the channel and that was our plan, we just didn’t get it right. Certainly in that middle session we didn’t create any pressure at all, there were too many leak balls.

"From 230-3 to be 305 all out is another frustrating collapse. It’s deja vu from last year, really.

“We get ourselves in a pretty good position, somebody plays pretty well and a partnership forms, we look in control and all of a sudden we have a session when we disintegrate. We were aiming for 400-plus at one stage, so to just scrape past 300 we knew we were probably going to be short.”

Conditions were cloudy and windy when play began and Barker, who returned 4-36 on day one, completed his five-wicket haul when he had Darren Stevens caught behind for 23. Stevens looked underwhelmed by the decision and a loud thud could be heard from the direction of the pavilion shortly afterwards.

Gilchrist lasted six balls before falling in identical fashion in Barker’s next over, without scoring, and Jackson Bird was caught off Abbas (3-57) by substitute fielder James Fuller for two, but not before Hamid Qadri had made 23 not out, adding 21 useful runs to his overnight score.

Kent’s hopes that 305 might prove a tricky total eroded steadily through the rest of the day. Hampshire moved to 47-1 at lunch, losing only Joe Weatherley, who’d pulled Matt Milnes for a six, but was then caught behind for 18 when the same bowler found his inside edge.

Despite losing Ian Holland lbw to Gilchrist for 25, Hampshire dominated the afternoon session, Vince beating Nick Gubbins in the race to 50 when he nudged Qadri for a single in the 36th over.

With Kent unable to stem the tide of boundaries, Gubbins passed the same landmark in the next over when he drove Milnes for four, but he was out when he edged Gilchrist to Jordan Cox, who took a tricky catch at slip, ending a stand of 136.

The visitors scored 172 runs in the session and continued their onslaught after tea. Liam Dawson pulled the second ball of the evening session off Bird for six, Vince clipped Stevens for a single to bring up his century, off 99 balls, and although he eventually edged Gilchrist to Cox, Dawson kept up the scoring rate.

He drove Milnes for two to reach his half-century and Ben Brown hit Stevens for four through the covers to give Hampshire the lead with the first ball of the 72nd over.

Brown looked equally comfortable and had reached 42 not out when play was abandoned for bad light, with three scheduled overs remaining and Gilchrist poised to take the new ball.