Worcestershire completed an innings-and-two-runs demolition of Kent on the third day of their Rothesay County Championship fixture at New Road.

Brett D’Oliveira’s side followed up an impressive win over Middlesex at Lord’s with another strong performance to see off a Kent side which was second-best in all departments and remains without a win after three games.

After Worcestershire’s first innings ended at 447 (Matthew Waite 53 not out, 93 balls), Matt Milnes four for 81) in the first over of the day, Kent were bowled out second time round for 249. Seventh-wicket pair Chris Benjamin (77 not out, 105) and Keith Dudgeon (41, 52) added 71 but none of the top six passed 31, three of them swept away by Tom Taylor who finished with five for 56.

Worcestershire resumed on the third morning on 441 for nine and added just six runs before Olly Hannon-Dalby was bowled by Matt Parkinson. That left Kent needing to find 251 to avoid an innings defeat and effectively to bat for the best part of two days. Their hopes of doing so soon evaporated with the loss of four wickets in 17 overs.

Taylor took the first three in a sizzling opening spell of 7-1-27-3. Ben Dawkins (substitute for Ben Compton who has a dislocated finger) edged to Ethan Brookes at second slip. Sam Northeast nicked to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick and Tawanda Muyeye was lbw playing across the line. Zak Crawley, having been dropped on eight by Taylor at mid-on off Hannon-Dalby, collected 31 from 57 balls but then drove at a wide ball from Beyers Swanepoel and inside-edged to Roderick.  

Daniel Bell-Drummond (30, 46) and Joey Evison added 36 up to lunch but the interval merely delayed Kent’s implosion. Bell-Drummond fell lbw to the second ball of the afternoon, a Hannon-Dalby in-ducker. Taylor quickly added his fourth wicket when Evison supplied Roderick’s eighth victim of the match. Milnes edged Waite to second slip where Brookes took another fine catch.

Benjamin and Dudgeon showed degrees of application and judgment that had eluded their top-order colleagues. They added 71 in 23 overs but the powerhouse Taylor had not finished. He prised enough movement from a 51-overs old ball to find Dudgeon’s edge and supply Roderick with his ninth catch of the game, equalling the record for a Worcestershire ‘keeper.

When Swanepoel plucked out Parkinson’s off-stump, last pair Benjamin and Mikey Cohen had to find 31 to make Worcestershire bat again – and a few more to set them a challenging target. Benjamin swung D’Oliveira over mid-wicket for six but Brookes wrapped up the innings with an lbw decision against Cohen on the stroke of tea.

Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson said: “You never get a complete performance but I think if you try to pick a way to win a four-day game, that is one of the better ways. We bowled really well in the first innings then managed to get a good distance past the opposition with the bat.

“We spoke about it after the game, that a very pleasing thing was that there were so many contributions. With the bat we had lots and lots of partnerships. There was one big one between Brett and Adam which really set us up but then there were others which just kept on applying the pressure and kept the momentum going our way.

“Then with the ball it was a real team effort to make sure we kept them under pressure. In all three games this season, in terms of team contribution, it has been a really good effort, in the last two days at Derby and then throughout the game at Lord’s to beat Middlesex and again to win here.”

Kent head coach Adam Hollioake said: “The batting is a big worry. We haven’t batted well and, on paper, we have a very good batting line-up so at times like this we have got to get back to the fundamentals. It’s not time to be inventing new shots or changing our style of play individually, it’s a case of accessing those fundamentals and getting ourselves in the right frame of mind to execute them. 

“The mood in the group is very low and it’s my responsibility to try and pick that up. There will have to be at least one change to the team next game because Ben Compton is injured. We are getting to the stage where you start looking at changes. When you lose, that is the time to look whether you need to change the side. We have only lost one game this year, though in the two we drew we didn’t perform well, so we need to starting thinking about that.”

“Ben Compton had a compound dislocation. The bone in his finger dislocated and was then sticking out of his skin. It was really ugly and I think he is under surgery at the moment, but I think the recovery is quite quick. He can’t play in the next game because we replaced him in this match but hopefully he won’t be out for too long.”