Nervy Hampshire face promotion fight

Hampshire are used to nerves. Five years of Twenty20 success has cooled their veins. And they are set for another test of temperament to gain promotion back to Division One of the County Championship after their advantage slipped on the second day of the penultimate round. They laboured in the field for 150 overs as Kent put victory almost beyond them.

Hampshire began the week 22 points clear in second place in Division Two but as Kent racked up 507 and then took three wickets before the close, Essex were busy setting up victory at Grace Road that erased the initial deficit.

Fielding for a day and a half was not really the way Hampshire would have envisaged beginning a match that could have been their promotion celebration. That is very unlikely from here, after Kent recorded their highest score of the season.

Hampshire's lead over Essex heading into the final week will be only the points they gain here. That currently stands at just one after Kent denied them even a second bowling point. Should Hampshire play with requisite application, several extra bonuses are achievable - but they are without Michael Carberry, who injured his hand in the nets before the match, and they were reckless when beginning their response after an early tea.

Jimmy Adams was run out, slow to respond to a sharp single called by Liam Dawson, who later advanced at Adam Riley and chipped a catch to midwicket. They followed Will Smith, who has signed a new three-year deal, lbw to Darren Stevens. A score of 98 for 3 was a little hole that seemed avoidable given the placid conditions as the south coast sun shone - it was arranged for International Boat Week.

James Vince at least played an innings to allow home supporters to sit back in their chairs and admire what chairman Rod Bransgrove says is a view of a third of Hampshire from the top of pavilion. Vince, in his seductively effortless style, struck four boundaries in nine balls as the final hour began, driving and pulling Callum Haggett before punching Riley down the ground and sweeping him fine. He went to fifty in 65 balls. Two further boundaries came in the day's penultimate over. Vince played the conditions not the scoreboard.

Earlier there was another delightful innings from an English youngster. Sam Billings should have become the third Kent homegrown batsman to make a century in the first innings. Billings grabbed attention in the Royal London Cup with some blistering batting. His 458 runs at 114.50 played a large part in Kent's run to the semi-final. He has now added six half-centuries in the Championship but cruelly ran out of partners in pursuit of a maiden ton.

It was rather calamitous from Kent. Billings had 87 and three wickets remained. But the previously comfortable James Tredwell - for whom Imran Tahir had five men back on the boundary - thin-edged a cut off Smith and Mitch Claydon then played a very poor stroke in chipping a catch to mid-on. Forced into a dash, Billings swept four between two leg-side scouts but, trying to clear long-on, was taken by Tahir. It was a great shame for Billings, whose only first-class century came on his debut in 2011 for Loughborough.

But he showed lovely touch and a wide range of strokes with his elastic wrists, honed by playing rackets at Haileybury school. He played consecutive reverse sweeps for four off Smith. Another boundary came via the most delicate of late cuts but the highlight was a flowing straight drive that sent a sharp Matt Coles delivery back from whence it came.

Coles began the day by bringing hope of more Hampshire bowling points. He ran in aggressively from the pavilion end to create problems in a nine over spell and took 2 for 28. He had a huge leg-before appeal against Daniel Bell-Drummond turned down and had the same batsman edging just short of third slip. But in the fifth over of the morning, Sam Northeast, playing from the crease, had his bails clipped after adding 13 to his overnight total. It ended a stand of 244 - the highest fourth-wicket partnership conceded by Hampshire on their new ground. Coles then cramped Darren Stevens for room and he chopped a catch to third slip.

But the morning's chatter again featured Tahir, who bowled no better than would have been expected from Danny Briggs - a Hampshire academy graduate with 27 wickets at 26.11 in eight matches this season. But Tahir did land two googlies, the second deceiving Bell-Drummond into shouldering arms and he fell lbw for his first-class best of 153.