A THREE-WICKET haul by left-arm spinner Rob Ferley ensured Kent continued to dominate their final Liverpool Victoria Championship clash of the summer against Middlesex in Canterbury.

The former England Under-19 left-arm spinner bagged three for 54 as Middlesex slumped to 166 for four to trail by 437 runs going into the third day of four.

Earlier Kent batted on to post 603 for six declared – their highest score of the championship season built around centuries from Darren Stevens and first-day tons from Matt Walker and David Fulton.

The day started at a sluggish pace as night watchman Ferley batted on for two hours for a stoic 22 before he turned one to short leg Ben Hutton that bounced up off the fielder’s right boot to be held on the rebound

Stevens and Geraint Jones added 121 for the sixth wicket as Jones contributed a fluent 59 from 85 balls before the England gloveman went leg before when trying to pull a shooting ball from Ed Joyce.

Neil Dexter came in to clatter 35 from 31 balls while Stevens accelerated after scoring his second century of the summer from 135 balls and finished with 15 fours in his best knock of the summer.

Dexter swiped a six off Chris Peploe to raise the 600 and acting skipper Martin van Jaarsveld immediately declared leaving Middlesex to face the 43 remaining overs in the day.

The visiting bowling figures made for horrific reading as Chris Wright finished with one for 113 while Peploe’s two wickets cost a small matter of 205 runs.

With 454 required simply to avoid the follow-on, Middlesex lost

Compton leg before early in the reply, the batsman was hopelessly off-balance and working across the line against a Robbie Joseph off-cutter.

It was Ferley’s show thereafter as he bagged three wickets before stumps. Hutton (20) went leg before, Owais Shah (43) chopped on when attempting a back-foot force then Ed Smith (7) proffered a leading edge to Denly at short mid-off.

It all left Kent firmly in control at the mid-point of this their final game of the summer.

SCOREBOARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Peploe b Silverwood 155
J L Denly b Silverwood 66
M van Jaarsveld c Joyce b Peploe 2
M J Walker c Nash b Silverwood 104
R S Ferley c Hutton b Peploe 22
D I Stevens not out 126
G O Jones lbw b Joyce 59
N J Dexter not out 35
Extras 34

Total 603 for six declared after 164 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-123, 2-138, 3-334, 4-357, 5-417, 6-538.

Bowling: Silverwood 34-7-90-3, Louw 24-3-66-0, Peploe 50-4-205-2, Wright 23-1-113-0, Hutton 4-0-25-0, Weekes 24-2-67-0, Joyce 5-0-21-1.

Middlesex first innings

B Hutton b Ferley 20
N R D Compton lbw b Joseph 25
O A Shah b Ferley 43
E T Smith c Denly b Ferley 7
E C Joyce not out 39
P N Weekes not out 17
Extras 15

Total 166 for four after 43 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-41, 2-91, 3-124, 4-136

Bowling: Cook 9-2-39-0, Joseph 7-2-30-1, Tredwell 9-3-30-0, Ferley 14-1-54-3, Stevens 4-1-12-0.

Bonus points: Kent 6pts, Middlesex 1pt.

* Mark Pennell's third day report will appear here at the close of play this evening.