KENT and Hampshire face a difficult task to fashion a positive result from a rain-hit match at the Rose Bowl where the visitors ended the third day 76 runs behind on 195 for seven in their first innings.

Already a total of 142 overs have been lost to the weather and with one day remaining, a draw seems the most probable result.

Hampshire began the third day at 186 for eight and accelerated to 271 all out thanks to some belligerent batting by wicketkeeper Nic Pothas.

Pothas laboured for 142 balls over his half century but then set about the Kent bowling with increasing authority, going on to make 96 before he was last out.

Pothas had been given instructions from his captain Shane Warne that he was about to declare and started what proved to be the last over of the innings needing 14 for his second century of the summer.

He lifted Robbie Joseph for a straight six and needed four runs from the last two balls only to lift Joseph to long on where Darren Stevens judged the catch perfectly.

Pothas also hit nine fours and faced 196 balls and enabled Hampshire to complete their recovery from 108 for six.

Pothas and James Bruce put on 75 for the eighth wicket before Bruce had his middle stump knocked out by a delivery from Min Patel which kept low.

Joseph emerged as the most successful of the Kent bowlers in terms of wickets with three for 68 and there were two wickets each for Andrew Hall, Simon Cook and Stevens.

Kent made a poor start to their reply when losing David Fulton to the second ball of the innings, off Bruce, to a comfortable catch at second slip by Warne.

Billy Taylor had Martin van Jaarsveld caught at point and then induced an inside edge to remove Kent captain Robert Key.

Matthew Walker struck some aggressive blows in his 26 before hitting Sean Ervine's first ball to mid-off where Dimitri Mascarenhas held the catch at the third attempt.

Stevens followed soon afterwards to a catch at first slip by James Adams before Warne brought himself into the attack at the start of the 44th over with Kent 111 for five.

Warne soon accounted for Justin Kemp, bowling the South African behind his legs with a ball which turned sharply into his stumps from outside the leg stump.

But then Hall and Niall O'Brien put on 64 for the seventh wicket to remove Kent doubts of being shot out cheaply on an unpredictable wicket.

Warne struck again just before the close when he had O'Brien caught at point for a useful 38 but at the close Hall was unbeaten with 46 and Kent were 195 for seven, with the match going nowhere.