Kent had to settle for a draw in the final hour at Hampshire on Thursday afternoon after an enthralling last day of their LV= County Championship Division 2 clash.

After a delayed start due to rain, day four began with a draw looking almost inevitable as Kent needed to take nine second innings wickets to stand any chance of victory, though the hosts, following-on, were still 46 runs adrift of Kent’s mammoth 507 first innings total.

However a flurry of wickets from Kent’s dual spin threat of James Tredwell and Adam Riley after lunch led to the tantalising prospect of the promotion-seeking hosts being bowled out with a modest lead and leaving Kent a quickfire run-chase in the dying minutes for a shot at victory.

It had been a slow start for the visitors on Tuesday morning with Rob Key (0) and Ben Harmison (11) falling early to former Kent man Matt Coles as they slipped to 26-2.

Brendan Nash did add 39 but it was a superb fourth wicket stand of 244 – a record against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl - between Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sam Northeast set Kent on their way to their biggest first innings total of the season.

Bell-Drummond made a career-best 153, which included 22 fours in a knock which lasted more than seven hours, while Northeast amassed 128 from 214 balls for his fourth century of the season and third in consecutive Championship games.

Northeast was eventually bowled by Coles (4-84) with the score on 330-4 while after Darren Stevens fell to Coles for four, Bell-Drummond eventually was trapped LBW by Imran Tahir.

Sam Billings threatened to become a third centurion with a typically bullish 92 from 116 balls, however despite him putting on 81 with Calum Haggett (34) and 48 with Tredwell (23), the keeper was eventually the last man to go, having steered Kent past 500.

Hampshire were 127-3 at the end of day two but collapsed from 205-5 to 253-9 on the third day, with Tredwell and Adam Riley claiming three wickets apiece.

The only real resistance came from Sean Ervine whose 121 from 173 balls somehow helped get the hosts within six runs of avoiding the follow-on as he put on 98 for the final wicket with last man James Tomlinson before being stumped by Billings off Tredwell.

Key asked the hosts to bat again on the third afternoon and Jimmy Adams was ousted by Tredwell with the score on 20.

However fellow opener Will Smith held firm to guide his side within 50 runs on the final day, and kept his cool throughout the final day to almost single-handedly keep his side from losing.

128-1 became 208-8 as Tredwell (4-110) and Riley (4-36 from 19 fine overs) whipped through the order to leave the hosts with a slender 52-run lead with two wickets in hand and 20 overs remaining.

However Smith carried his bat for an unbeaten 142 in five hours 45 minutes and put on 25 in nine overs for the ninth wicket with Imran Tahir.

Smith then shared a further unbroken 15 in a dozen overs with the stoic Tomlinson who faced 69 balls in more than two hours at the crease spread over the two innings, leading the captains to shake hands on a draw around 5pm.

The result gave second-placed Hampshire a 10-point lead over third-placed Essex going into the final round of games, while fifth-placed Kent need 15 points to overhaul fourth-placed Surrey when they welcome Gloucestershire to Canterbury on Tuesday.