Struggling Northants up against it as they face fight to avoid big loss against Kent

Play resumes on Wednesday (11am) with Northants still needing to score 170 further runs just to make their visitors bat again, having closed day three on 214 for five.

That came in response to Kent's massive first innings total of 621 all out, of which Daniel Bell-Drummond made a brilliant 300 not out, which dwarfed the County's inadequate 237 all out in their first knock.

With Rob Keogh (57) and Luke Procter (52) dismissed after spirited efforts, Saif Zaib will carry Northants' hopes with the bat, as he resumes on 43 not out, alongside Lewis McManus (4no) - the pair the last of the team's remaining frontline batters.

Defeat for John Sadler's side against the team that started the week just one place above them in the table would be their fifth in seven matches and leave them cut adrift at the bottom of the LV= Insurance County Championship with half of the campaign played.

It is going to take something very, very special for Northants to avoid defeat, but young leg-spinner Alex Russell hasn't yet given up hope.

"Daniel Bell-Drummond played really well and didn’t really give us a chance for 300, it was quite impressive to watch," said Russell.

“I think the plan for us is to try and bat all day. It’s going to be tricky but I think we’ve showed that we can do that.

“We’ve got be patient and understand it’s going to be difficult at times. It’s going to take a big effort but hopefully we can get a result.”

Russell's bowling performance has been one of the few positives during the first three days, with the 21-year-old claiming a first career five-wicket haul as he finished with six for 175.

“It was nice to get that first five-for," admitted the Welshman.

"It was a difficult challenge, being out there for as long as we were but it was just about trying to keep ourselves in the game, to be positive and take wickets.

“The Kookaburra ball has proved quite nice to bowl spin with and being a leg-spinner, the rough outside leg stump was always in the game for me.

"The ball gets soft really quick, which can be tricky for seamers but I think it brings spin into the game a lot more.

“For me, once I had those first two wickets I thought I could probably go on and get a few more, so the plan was to keep it simple, stay patient and hope that chances would come eventually as they tried to up the tempo."

Elsewhere, third-from-bottom Middlesex suffered a big defeat at Hampshire on Wednesday, losing by an innings and 61 runs after being bowled out for 151 and 208 in reply to the home side’s 419 all out.

Northants’ next Championship match is against Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' School Ground in Northwood, which starts on Monday, July 10.