An exciting finish could be in prospect on the final day of the Rothesay County Championship between Kent and Lancashire at Canterbury, after the hosts reached 206 for five at stumps, a lead of 215.

Although rain wiped out much of day three, with only 38.3 overs bowled, Jaydn Denly hit 74 as Kent built their lead, before Mitch Stanley helped rein them in with two for 56.

With Ben Compton not expected to bat Kent are effectively six down and the game looks fascinatingly poised going into day four.

Kent resumed with a lead of 105, on 96 for 0, with Jaydn Denly on 55 and Ben Dawkins on 35.

Dawkins had added just a single when he edged Will Williams to Keaton Jennings at first slip, but the players went off for rain at 11.56 pm and six overs were lost.

When play resumed Tom Bailey sent Jaydn Denly’s off stump flying, but a further downpour resulted in an early lunch, with the score 131 for two.

After a two and a half hour delay, play resumed and George Balderson, switching to the Pavilion End, had Joey Evison caught behind for 26.

Joe Denly, in as a concussion sub for Tawanda Muyeye, cracked Stanley for six over midwicket to take Kent to 170 for three at tea, but he rarely looked comfortable and was caught behind for 19 after flashing at the same bowler.

Stanley then had Harry Finch lbw for four before the rain returned at 5.12pm. With no prospect of a resumption, play was abandoned for the day, with Ekansh Singh unbeaten on 30 and Mo Rizvi, who’s on a pair, on nought not out.

Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings said: “I don’t know how many overs we played today but we seemed to take a lot of wickets for not a whole heap of runs. I thought Luke Wells hit the nail on the head when he spoke about taking hold of the game. I thought we bowled really well today and it could make for an interesting day’s play tomorrow.

“There are a few showers around but who knows, it might play into the flow of the game. Both sides are in with a shout and it could be quite an exciting day.”(On what a win could do for their hopes on Finals Day)

“It’s good to play cricket in a winning environment and try and get yourselves into positions where you can win, so tomorrow is a big day for that. It’s an environment we haven’t been able to generate often enough throughout the year. So yeah, it’s exciting.

“Everybody throughout the campaign has put their hand up at some point. It was Liam Livingstone’s night in the quarter-final, hopefully it’ll be somebody else in the semi-final and somebody else in the final.

“It’s been fantastic that guys have stuck their hands up. All the guys all the way down have made contributions that have won us games of cricket so hopefully we can continue with that come Saturday and play two really big games of cricket.

“Finals Day as an occasion is amazing. You have 25,000 people all bouncing round the whole day, screaming for good cricket, wanting to be entertained. I’ve played in a few of them but never won any one of them so I’m excited to hopefully change that. It is a fantastic day out, hopefully the weather plays ball, it stays sunny and you get three really competitive games of cricket.”

(On availability) “It’s not ideal. I don’t want to point fingers anywhere but I do think the scheduling is absolutely ludicrous. You can’t have eight weeks between our last group stage game and the quarter-final. There’s no other competition in the world that does that. Hopefully it changes next year, I’ve heard different rumours that it is but look, we’ll go on to that field with 11 fantastic cricketers that have earned the right to go and represent Lancashire on Finals Day.

(On the absentees) “Those guys really care, they want to be there, they want to play games of cricket. I’ll name Salty (Phil Salt), he’s just said how disappointed he is at not being able to go and represent Lancs at a Finals Day and it shows you that a guy who’s won the IPL, who’s played all around the world is dying to play and pull on the Red Rose on Finals Day, so look it is frustrating, it feels like a mass kick in the teeth but do you whinge about it or do you crack on and try to formulate a plan to try and win two games of cricket?

“Like I say, the guys that have taken the field have earned the right to represent Lancs on Finals Day and they have the chance to prove a point and give us a selection headache for next year.”

Kent’s Jaydn Denly said: “I think we’re pretty pleased. Obviously, it’s not been the easiest of wickets to bat on, so we bowled really well, I thought yesterday. Our first innings got a decent score and we’re in a pretty good position now to go on tomorrow. Still a lot of hard work to go, but I feel like we’ve put ourselves in a good position to go and win the game. 

On opening with Ben Dawkins: “Yeah, it was good fun. We’ve obviously done it in the Metro Bank as well, so it didn’t really feel very different to that. But yeah, it was nice. We go well together. We complement each other pretty well, so it was nice to be back out there with Ben. Obviously, Ben Compton missing out because of his wrists, always a nice bat with him as well, but yeah, it was a nice partnership Ben Dawkins. 

“He’s batting beautifully at the minute, and he has all season, so it’s nice to be watching him bat so well. And obviously, I’m not striking too bad either at the minute, which is nice. 

“I’m seeing it well. It’s always nice. It can come and go at times, but it’s nice to be seeing it well at this time with a couple of games to go at the end of the season. 

(On his longest run in the team) “I only played a couple of games last year and I played a game the year before that. But yeah, it’s nice to be getting a bit of a run. Obviously, it’s nice to know you’ve got a role in the team and I’m just getting used to everything still. I feel like I’m getting used to playing this format more now. I was not playing it much growing up.”