Derbyshire 304 and 19 for 1 need a further 365 runs to beat Kent 352 and 335 (Benjamin 123, Evison 88, Haydon 5-81)
The hosts posted 335 in their second innings, thanks to a pivotal partnership of 184 between Benjamin and Joey Evison, who hit 88. In reply Derbyshire were 19 for 1 at stumps, trailing by 364 after Matt Milnes got Caleb Jewell caught behind of the last ball of the day.
Kent resumed on 38 for 2 and got off to a staggeringly bad start, when Shoaib Bashir ran out Sam Northeast for 4 with a direct hit from cover off the second delivery of the day. Tawanda Muyeye called for a problematic single and Northeast didn’t even have time to ground his bat.
At the end of the first over Ben Aitchison had Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw for 4 and Ekansh Singh had made just 5 when he drove Haydon to Bashir at point and the England spinner caught him after fumbling his initial grab.
Muyeye and Benjamin put on 67 for the sixth wicket, but the former was on 34 when he was put down by Wayne Madsen after he edged Haydon to first slip and he’d only added two more when played on to the same bowler.
At that point Kent were 122 for 6, but Benjamin and Evison nudged them to 132 without further loss at lunch, and, after 10 overs were lost to rain, they transformed the mood around the ground by batting through the entire afternoon session.
Progress was initially slow, but both batters took singles from Bashir to reach 50 and the boundaries began to flow, with Evison hitting Bashir back over his head for six.
It was 248 for 6 when at tea and Benjamin reached the first century of his Kent career, and only his second first-class ton, when he glanced Matthew Montgomery for two to fine leg.
Evison fell 12 short of three figures when he hoicked Haydon to Zak Chappell at deep backward point and Milnes was then lbw to Aitchison for a golden duck.
Benjamin fell four short of his career-best score when he was strangled by Martin Andersson and the innings concluded when Keith Dudgeon holed out off Andersson and was caught by Luis Reece at deep-midwicket.
That left Derbyshire with 11 overs till stumps. It took them till the final ball of the fifth to score a run, and just when it looked like they’d bat through without loss, Milnes got Jewell off the penultimate scheduled ball of the day. Harry Came was unbeaten on 16.
Derbyshire will need to make history to win from here: their previous highest run chase against Kent was when they made 298 for 8 at Derby in 2012.
