Derbyshire plunged the knife deep into the Kentish ribcage on day two of their Rothesay County Championship match at Canterbury.

They posted the second-highest score ever made at The Spitfire Ground when they declared on 698 for six, before reducing Kent to 117 for two at stumps, a deficit of 581.

Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen made a stand of 358 eclipsing the Derbyshire record for a third wicket partnership in first class cricket. Reece made 211, his highest first-class score, while Madsen fell for 198. Martin Andersson then blasted 85 from 75 balls and Anuj Dal was unbeaten on 52 when the declaration came.

Kent’s openers initially responded well, reaching 111 without loss, before Jack Morley took two late wickets to finish with two for 45. He bowled Ben Compton for 46, then had nightwatcher Michael Cohen caught and bowled for four in the final over, leaving Kent on 117 for two. Ben Dawkins was unbeaten on 53.

Kent members have endured too many days like this in recent seasons, with the permanent injury crisis forcing the permanently makeshift bowling attack to toil for hours while the opposition batters tick away landmarks.

Derbyshire were 389 for two overnight and while Reece and Madsen enjoyed the race to get to 200, home fans were reduced to applauding the occasional maiden or gallant bit of fielding.

When the stand passed 292 Madsen had broken his own record, the previous mark for the third wicket being the partnership he’d shared with Shan Masood against Sussex in 2022.

Reece was dropped on 196 by Ollie Curtiss, an admittedly violent drive off Joey Evison, but Matt Parkinson then broke through with a full toss that hit Madsen on the knee and got him lbw.

That left them stranded, two runs short of the all-time record stand for any wicket, the 360 put on by Reece and Harry Came against Glamorgan in 2023.

Reece nudged Parkinson for a single to bring up his double ton, then flicked Ekansh Singh for four to beat his previous high score of 201.

Curtiss dropped Martin Andersson, off Parkinson, at first slip when he was on 14, but the bowler struck again in his next over when he had Reece caught by Ben Compton on the boundary, leaving the visitors on 550 for four at lunch.

Brook Guest was the only batter not to fill his boots, run out by Ben Dawkins for nine, but Andersson blazed away until Curtiss had him caught at deep backward-square by sub Mo Rizvi.

When the declaration came it was the second highest first-class total by a team at Canterbury, behind only Northamptonshire’s 722 for six, posted earlier this season.

Home morale was partially restored by the way their openers responded. Kent were 42 without loss at tea, however and Dawkins hit Jack Morley for two sixes off three balls before a delivery from the same bowler reared up and hit him on the grill.

He was able to continue after a concussion check, but with the light deteriorating play was suspended at 5.22pm. Play resumed after a 28-minute delay, allowing Dawkins to reach his 50, before Morley turned one down the slope to bend back Compton’s off stump.

Cohen then had a moment of madness, driving the penultimate ball of the day straight back to Morley.

Derbyshire’s Luis Reece said: “It’s probably as good as we could have hoped really. It’s obviously a very good wicket, but the way the lads went about things, everyone sort of stuck their hand up and did their job remarkably well, so to get the best part of 700 and control the game as such, you know, that’s all we could have asked for.

“It’s been a bit of a strange old summer for me, I’ve not had the consistency of games and things to go off, so it’s been a bit of a stop-start sort of summer, but the way Nye went about his business made my life a hell of a lot easier.

“Wayne Madsen did Wayne Madsen things, he just makes it look incredibly easy. I think there was still a bit in the pitch with the new ball, there was some playing and missing and if you put the ball in the right area, there was a bit there. That doesn’t last too long on good wickets, so you’ve got to try and make use of it.

“They had a bit of a testing period tonight where they’ve got to go out for five overs or whatever it is and, you know, we were able to take two wickets and change a bit of momentum in the game again. It just felt like a bit of a bonus to get two wickets tonight. It just gives us an opportunity and we’ve got to make sure that we’re on the money straight off and make it as difficult as we can for the new batter coming in.”

Kent’s Harry Finch said. “It’s obviously not ideal. (Losing two late wickets) Compton that he got a pretty good ball, and then it’s a shame Mikey hit that full-toss back to the bowler, but I think overall it was a pretty decent start to the batting innings. It’s a shame to lose a few wickets, but that can happen when you’re batting in such a short period of time.

“We were looking really solid for a bit there. I wouldn’t say we got caught out having to come back out for five overs, but that can happen when you’ve got four or five overs left, you tend to go into your shell a little bit.

“I thought it was a really good response from the boys after a long stint in the field. Compo especially has done this for ages now but then you’ve got to go out on the bat again, and it just takes up a lot of mental energy. So no, that was a really impressive start.

(On Ben Dawkins) “He’s a good player. I think it was just a good pitch to bat on, but he’s shown what he’s about. He’s been brilliant in the 50-over stuff, and then he’s obviously done really well in the last few games in the four-day stuff.

“So that’s exciting for him, and it’s exciting for the club. I think, to be really honest, we’ve obviously not been at the level we need to be in the last two games. I don’t think there’s any point beating around the bush there. Went 450 in nearly 80 overs at Leicestershire, which just isn’t at the level.

“In this game, I don’t think we were that far off from day one. We sort of spoke at the end of the game, actually, considering how flat the pitch is. I think a good day for us from day one would have been around 300-odd runs for maybe five or six down. We weren’t miles off in that regard, but we dropped a couple of chances. So we weren’t that far off, but we’re still a little bit off the level.”