Northamptonshire were closing in on an innings victory against Kent in their Rothesay County Championship match at Canterbury, reducing the hosts to 162 for three at stumps, after they were forced to follow on.

Kent finally offered some resistance on day three, but they suffered a double blow late on; James Sales removed Sam Northeast for 69, thanks to a brilliant diving catch by George Bartlett at leg gully, and Calvin Harrison then bowled night-watcher Matt Milnes for a duck.

Earlier Harry Conway took five for 36 as Kent were skittled for 178 in their first innings, a deficit of 506. Conway then removed England’s Zak Crawley for five, but Ben Compton and Northeast put on a stand of 152, until Sales and Bartlett intervened.Compton was unbeaten on 70 but the hosts remain 344 behind going into the final day.

Rain wiped out the morning session and play started at 1.08, with Kent a biblical 565 runs in arrears on 119 for six.

The second night-watch, Jas Singh, lasted 11 minutes before Conway had him caught by Bartlett for 12.

Conway then got two wickets in as many balls. Joey Evison was lbw for 10, before Jaydn Denly’s off-stump was sent cartwheeling.

The last wicket duo of Chris Benjamin, who was unbeaten on 31, and Keith Dudgeon offered some resistance, batting out 16.2 overs until the latter was bowled by Harrison for 14.

In Kent’s second innings Crawley lasted just nine balls before he got a leading edge to Conway and was caught by Saif Zaib. After four innings, his average for Kent this season is 15.

For the first time in the match, however, the visitors didn’t have everything their own way. Compton and Northeast steered the hosts to 27 for one at tea and they thrived during the evening session.

Northeast was the first to reach 50, when he cracked Harrison to the mid-wicket boundary and Compton reached the same landmark when he swept the same bowler for four.

There were 3.5 overs to go when Northeast had a concussion check after being hit on the helmet by James Sales. He was cleared to continue, but hit the very next delivery to Bartlett, who took a spectacular catch.

For the second consecutive day the night-watch, Milnes, was out for a duck, leaving Singh to survive the final two overs.

Kent’s Ben Compton said: “For the game as a whole, I think we’ve been pretty much completely outskilled, I don’t think that’s any secret, so we’ll try to dig in. I enjoyed batting with Northeast, I’m glad to see him doing well in Kent colours and tomorrow it’s a pretty simple equation. We’ve got to try and bat the whole day and find a way to do that.

“It’s a good pitch, but it’s starting to spin now and it’s quite dry for this time of the year. Their leg spinner has come in and bowled well and the seamers have just bashed away all day. After the damage they did in the first innings, they’ve just been very accurate and contained well.

“Our guys have just got to be patient, respect their good spells and cash in if and when they waver. So it’s a pretty simple equation. We’re going to fight tooth and nail, we’ll give everything we can and see where that takes us, live in that space.”

Northamptonshire’s Luke Procter said: “It was very important (to break the partnership). I think we bowled well all day, to be honest, especially Harry this morning, who was running really hard, and got his rewards.

“I feel we put the ball in the right areas for a long period of time and in the end, we got our rewards for the effort that we put in all day. James Sales, in each innings, has picked up an important wicket late in the day. It just gives him a bit of freedom, having another bowler to bowl when he’s not bowling. I think he bowled really well this game, especially the last two evenings have been unreal, to be honest.

“He’s running really hard, really fast, and got two really important wickets. (Calvin Harrison) is bowling really well, putting it in the dirt and he’s spitting a few out. So hopefully we’ll get a little inside edge tomorrow and go straight to the short leg, we’ll see.”