THOUGH Simon Cook and Yasir Arafat collected their county caps in a lunchtime presentation, it was Kolpak signing Ryan McLaren who enjoyed his best day in a Kent shirt as Warwickshire were skittled out for 107 and made to follow-on 443 behind in sunny Canterbury.

On a third day of three vastly contrasting sessions as Warwickshire, responding to Kent's first innings of 550 for nine declared, set out on 43 for two with an ambition to avoid following on and ended the day 187 for five in their second innings - still 256 behind.

Within 105 minutes of the 11am start the visitors had lost eight wickets for 58 runs, were batting again well before the lunch break still 443 in arrears leaving Kent to scent a three-day win.

It was McLaren, the 24-year-old willowy right-arm seamer from Kimberly who proved their destroyer, taking four for 13 inside 22 balls and five 24 in all - his best figures since joining Kent in the close season.

It was Simon Cook who started the demise by trapping Jonathan Trott leg before in the 18th over of the day, but then McLaren got in on the act by having night watchman Paul Harris caught behind to make it 51 for four.

Former Kent starlet Alex Loudon got off the mark with a searing cover drive for four, but then McLaren got one to hold its line down the Nackington Road slope to feather the edge and give Geraint Jones another catch.

Jim Troughton chopped on in McLaren's next over then Tim Groenewald lost his off stump to an off-cutter to give fellow South African McLaren his first five-wicket haul for Kent.

With Arafat incapacitated by a side strain, it was left to Darren Stevens, with two for five, and Andrew Hall, one for 37, to polish off the innings as Kent wrapped up maximum bonus points only 24 overs into the day.

The resolve Warwickshire patently lacked in their first innings, finally emerged second time around as skipper Darren Maddy and opening partner Ian Westwood posted an untroubled 122 for the first wicket in 53 overs of incredibly dull cricket.

But once McLaren got the ball to reverse swing all hell let loose once again as he sent three more players packing for only a single in the space of seven balls.

Westwood (47) and Jonathan Trott edged leg-side to gift catches to Jones then, in his next over, McLaren ran one away from Loundon to see Hall pick up a good catch at first slip.

Late in the day off-spinner James Tredwell came to the party to bowl Groenewald via an inside edge and then have Tim Ambrose caught bat-pad at silly point, but try as they might, Kent were unable to wrap up the win with a day to spare as Maddy held firm.

He reached his fourth ton of the summer and third in successive championship games with a cover driven four of Cook to reach three figures from 221 balls and with eight fours and a brace of sixes.

He was still there at the close unbeaten with 115, together with Troughton on five who was suffering with back spasms and forced to bat at No7.

SCORECARD

Kent first innings

J L Denly c Ambrose b Tahir 36
R W T Key c Loudon b Groenwald 25
M van Jaarsveld c Maddy b Trott 117
J C Tredwell lbw b Carter 11
D I Stevens c Ambrose b Tahir 6
N J Dexter c Carter b Trott 86
G O Jones c sub (Anyon) b Harris 105
A J Hall run out (Troughon) 2
Yasir Arafat not out 101
R McLaren b Carter 21
S J Cook not out 0
Extras 40

Total 550 for nine declared after 156 overs.

Fall of wicket: 1-49, 2-89, 3-106, 4-120, 5-292, 6-307, 7-317, 8-494, 9-543.

Bowling: Carter 30-3-110-2, Daggett 20-6-62-0, Tahir 26-5-78-2, Groenewald 21-4-81-1, Harris 29-5-95-1, Maddy 10-5-13-0, Trott 12-4-33-2, Loudon 8-0-57-0.

Warwickshire first innings

I J Westwood c Jones b Tredwell 15
D L Maddy c Tredwell b McLaren 23P L Harris c Jones b McLaren 4
I J Trott lbw b Cook 0
J O Troughton b McLaren 5
A G R Loudon c Jones b McLaren 4
T D Ambrose c Hall b Stevens 13
T D Groenewald b McLaren 0
N Tahir c McLaren b Hall 12
N M Carter c Arafat b Stevens 2
L M Daggett not out 6
Extras 23

Total 107 all out after 36.3 overs.

Fall of wicket: 1-41, 2-43, 3-49, 4-51, 5-61, 6-70, 7-82, 8-91, 9-95.

Bowling: Yasir Arafat 4-1-13-0, Hall 8-1-37-1, Cook 9-2-19-1, McLaren 11-4-24-5, Tredwell 1-1-0-1.

Warwickshire second innings

I J Westwood c Jones b McLaren 47
D L Maddy not out 115
I J L Trott c Jones b McLaren 0
A G R Loudon c Hall b McLaren 0
T R Ambrose c Dexter b Tredwell 8
T D Groenewald b Tredwell 3
J O Troughton not out 5
Extras 9

Total 187 for five after 79 overs.

Fall of wicket: 1-122, 2-124, 3-124, 4-141, 5-145.

Bowling: McLaren 15-4-36-3, Hall 11-2-40-0, Tredwell 30-12-55-2, Cook 12-3-37-0, Stevens 5-3-6-0, van Jaarsveld 4-2-5-0, Denly 1-1-0-0.

Bonus points: Kent 8pts Warwickshire 2pts.