Kent look well placed to win their Rothesay County Championship match at Canterbury, after they reduced Worcestershire to 84 for three at stumps on day three, in pursuit of a target of 380.

Sam Northeast hit 132 as the promotion hopefuls made 358 in onerous batting conditions: Tom Taylor was Worcestershire’s leading bowler with four for 68.

Matt Milnes then took two for 21 to help reduce the visitors to 39 for three, but Brett D’Oliveira and Adam Hose prevented further damage, reaching 24 and 23 respectively when bad light stopped play. The visitors need another 296 for victory.

Kent resumed on 197 for three after 12 overs were lost to rain and the first hour was attritional. Northeast was 96 not out at the start and the 25 minutes that followed brought new meaning to the term “nervous nineties”, before he finally glanced Allison to third man for four, scoring his first century for Kent at Canterbury since returning to the club this season.

His partnership of 127 with Daniel Bell-Drummond was the biggest of the match so far and his partner passed 10,000 first-class runs for Kent, before he was out for 44 to the final ball of the session, driving the new ball back to Allison. Northeast then went to the first ball he faced after lunch, his middle and leg stumps splayed by an inswinger from Taylor, but by then the lead was already near 300.

Grant Stewart blasted Allison for a six over midwicket before losing his middle stump to Taylor for 15. Keith Dudgeon made an eight-ball duck, nicking Taylor to Allison at first, but Milnes added 20 in a useful stand of 45 with Benjamin before he was lbw to Adam Finch.

Beyers Swanepoel bowled Matt Quinn for one, and the hosts were all out when Benjamin called Hasan through for an extra run after a misfield by Henry Cullen. Swanepeol was backing up and Cullen ran him out for 5.

Daniel Lategan was the first Worcestershire batter to fall, lbw to Milnes for five.

Matt Quinn got Rehan Edavalath lbw for eight with his second ball after replacing Hasan and Jake Libby edged Milnes behind for 18.

At that point Worcestershire were in deep trouble but D’Oliveira and Hose stabilised things, before bad light stopped play with 11.5 overs remaining.

Kent’s Sam Northeast said: “We’re very happy with where we are. I think, turning up tomorrow, we’ve got to turn up with that intensity and start really well and hopefully get a few early wickets and build from that. I think the pitch is still doing enough, so we’re happy. As long as we do the things we’ve been doing for the last couple of months, I think we’ll be in a good position.

“There were a lot of plays and misses in there and sometimes you have to just ride that out and then try and score runs when you feel like it’s a little bit easier, when the sun’s out or something like that. So, yeah, you need to ride your luck at times and try and cash in when it’s going your way.

“It sort of reminds me of an old Canterbury pitch, actually. You go through, it feels really tough and then feels easier. It kind of feels that way and with the slope, you kind of feel like the ball is in the game all the time. So, yeah, it just felt like a knock about 10 years ago, really, trying to wind it back and remember how to do it all. So, it was pleasing.

(On being stuck on 96 overnight),

“It wasn’t really in my mind at all and then I sort of got one down the leg and then I hit one down the ground and I thought, well, it’d be quite nice. (The last ball on day two) was a pretty rash shot. So, yeah, it wasn’t on my mind and then there suddenly was and then I had a big waft outside.

“They bowed well and there was definitely something there. It’s more a little bit of rain on the surface and overcast conditions and, yeah, it was tricky. They bowed well, they came firing out and you should try and put that to the back of your mind that you’re on 96, but it’s very difficult. You sort of just want to clip off, like it was, just a little clip off the hip or something to get there.”