County Championship: Joe Denly hits ton as Kent battle back to dominate Bears

England Test player Joe Denly responded to his first-innings third-ball duck with his first century in three years

Joe Denly hit 141, his first century in three years, as Kent manoeuvred themselves into a winning position against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The weather is likely to have the last word on day four in Birmingham - but Kent are unquestionably on top.

Denly shared an 189-run stand with Jordan Cox, which allowed Kent to declare on 384-9, setting the reigning county champions 325 to win.

But Kent then struck before the close, reducing the Bears to 28-2.

It was not until after lunch that they made a start at Edgbaston - and it was a frustrating time for the Bears bowlers.

From their overnight 198-4, Denly and Cox took 30 overs to move their total on to 294-4 by tea.

They extended their stand to 189, beating a 123-year-old fifth-wicket record involving games between the two counties in the process - and they were within sight of the Kent fifth-wicket county record, the 277 posted by Kent legends Frank Woolley and Les Ames at Canterbury in 1931, when it came to an end.

Cox's departure was quickly followed by Denly's, and Sam Billings, Matt Milnes and Matt Henry all followed as Danny Briggs and Craig Miles cashed in on some cheap wickets.

That left nine overs to face - and Kent made early inroads when, from the final ball of the second over, Alex Davies was caught behind off Navdeep Saini.

It was an eighth catch in the match for Kent keeper Sam Billings - just two short of the county record.

And there was further joy for Kent when Chris Benjamin was lbw to Matt Henry in the final over of the day.

The only thing to dampen Kent enthusiasm in their hopes of closing out a key victory in this battle of two possible relegation candidates is that Friday's forecast is not at all good.

Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes told BBC Radio WM:

"Any chase over 300 on the last day is going to be tricky but, as we saw with the Lancashire game here, they chased down a very similar score so we have got to take confidence from that.

"Sam Hain is probably the most in-form batsman in the country and Dom Sibley has a point to prove with England so it makes for an interesting day.

"The mindset of cricketers now is that anything is possible. That's the way the one-day game has taken four-day cricket and we will go into the day with that mentality and break it down into sessions, just like Lancashire did."

Kent centurion Joe Denly told BBC Radio Kent:

"We are very happy with the position we are in. We are really in the game on a tricky wicket and hopefully we can turn up and create eight more chances.

"It was tricky batting out there especially against the new ball which moved around and there was a little bit of variable bounce. Coxy's been in superb form this season. He is a fine young player.

"That partnership has really set us up nicely to go on and try to win it and the boys bowled superbly this evening to get us a couple of wickets late on."