Kent clung on for a draw in their County Championship match with Sussex, after an engrossing final day at Canterbury.

Jack Carson took 3-87 and Sean Hunt 2-48 but, despite a cluster of wickets in the final hour, Sussex were unable to polish off Kent’s tail.

Hastings-born Harry Finch made 115 from 212 balls against his former county as Kent closed on 257-7, after Sussex had declared on 332-4, 40 minutes into the morning session.

Finch said: “I’ve played in quite a few games like this and if you go from the first ball trying to chase it you can end up losing the game, so for us it was taking it each session at a time.

"I think once we got to tea the wicket started to go up and down, started to spin a bit more. We were just going to play for that first hour and then we did lose a couple of wickets, so that put it (the chase) on hold.

"Obviously you’d love to try and chase that down and win in front of the crowd, but I think we made it more interesting than we should have done at the end there.

"I was pretty gutted when I got out because I think if we’d got through those three overs with me and Podders, we probably would have just shaken hands.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting (a call-up) when I was playing club cricket (for Hastings Priory) on Saturday. I just played an awful shot, had come off and was quite angry with myself. Then I got a bit of good news. I wasn’t expecting it at all so it was a nice bonus.

"It’s just nice to take my chance in this game. I wasn’t really thinking about the game (on Saturday night), it was more about getting the paperwork done. I had to rush back to mum’s, get my clothes and sort everything out."

The visitors began day four on 277-3, and Matt Quinn, who finished with 3-118, took the only wicket to fall when he had Oliver Carter caught by Marcus O’Riordan for 18.

Travis Head reached 49 not out when the visitors declared, setting Kent a target of 349 to win. The hosts' reply got off to a desperate start when Ollie Robinson had Joe Gordon caught behind for a duck in the first over, but O’Riordan and Finch batted through to lunch, with Kent on 52-1.

O’Riordan was dropped three times before he was finally run out in bizarre circumstances for 47. Chasing a quick single, he ran into his batting partner Finch. As he veered sideways, the ball was gathered by Tom Haines, who ran him out with a direct hit.

Henio Kuhn faced 27 balls before he was bowled by Carson for four, leaving Kent on 139-3 at tea. Finch reached three figures with a glance off Carson that just eluded leg slip before nestling against the rope, but Kent’s outside hopes of a win dimmed when Dan Lincoln was out for 41, caught by Robinson off Carson.

Conversely, Sussex’s hopes surged when Carson then had Harry Houillon caught by Danial Ibrahim for nine.

Hunt had Finch caught behind and when he subsequently trapped Hamid Qadri lbw for four there were still five overs remaining, but Harry Podmore decided attack was the best form of defence with a defiant 36 not out in 43 balls and debutant Bailey Whiteman survived 13 balls to end unbeaten without scoring.

The result means Sussex finish bottom of Group C while Kent are fifth, leaving both sides in the third tier when the championship resumes in late August.

• Kent skipper Billings tested positive for Covid-19

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