Jones and Khan give Kent victory chance

Kent 432 for 9 dec (Jones 101) and 24 for 0 require another 165 runs to beat New Zealanders 409 and 211 (Cairns 73, Khan 4-50)
Scorecard

A century from Geraint Jones, along with 4 for 50 by Amjad Khan on the third day of the tour match gave Kent a realistic chance of victory against the New Zealanders. After the batsmen added a further 136 to their overnight score, Kent bowled out New Zealand for 211 to leave them needing 165 more runs for victory tomorrow.

Jones, resuming on 43, sent out the perfect signal ahead of next week's Test at Lord's with an eye-catching century. He hit 101 from 107 balls, including 11 fours and five sixes. He added a handy 58 with Min Patel, who made 44, to keep the New Zealand bowlers toiling away in the Canterbury sun.

Jones eventually fell, caught by Shane Bond off Chris Martin, but it was little reward for the bowlers, who all felt the force of the Kent batsmen during the innings, especially Daniel Vettori, the left-arm spinner, who went for 100 from 15 overs. He did take two wickets, though, including that of Patel, as Kent declared on 432 for 9, and with a lead of 23.

New Zealand then had Chris Cairns to thank for another meaty innings of 73 after his side had spluttered to 81 for 6. Khan, a right-arm fast bowler from Denmark, dismissed all top four batsmen, including Nathan Astle for a second-ball duck to rock the New Zealanders. However, Cairns and Vettori added a valuable 49 together to make Kent's task a little harder.

David Fulton and Robert Key, Kent's openers, played out to the close unscathed.