[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: Another scorcher down in the Garden of England, and a solid partnership from Rob Jones and Adam Hose ensured three batting bonus points before the latter was dismissed LBW for 90 and the former followed him for 37. With the looming threat of subsidence to a lower total than anticipated overnight, it took an excellent stand between Matthew Waite and Jason Holder - playing his last scheduled game for the county - to carry the Pears to lunch on 424-7, claiming their fourth session in a row.

Afternoon: It was time for some fireworks, and the Worcestershire tail didn't disappoint. Reaching 500 at Canterbury for the first time in the county's history, Holder and Waite peppered the boundary in the sunshine and chalked up a century apiece en route to 618-7 declared, the club's biggest score since 2008 and the fifth-largest first-class total ever seen at the St Lawrence Ground (two runs more, indeed, than the hosts have ever managed there). Their 225 runs in 226 balls demolished the previous record eighth-wicket partnership for the Pears by Steve Rhodes and Stuart Lampitt against Derbyshire at Kidderminster in 1991, the first all-time partnership record to fall since our last Division One outing in 2018. All in all, an innings that honoured Josh Baker in the best possible way.

Evening: The apparent placidity of the pitch was the chief obstacle to optimism about the team's formidable position, though Worcestershire nevertheless raised hopes of something special when Joe Leach had Ben Compton caught at third slip for a duck with the fifth ball of the innings, before strangling Zak Crawley down the leg-side for 6. But Kent were able to steady the ship and reach stumps on 111-2, signalling a probable stalemate for the remainder of the weekend.