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A dogged 152 from Jack Leaning gave Kent a fighting chance of saving their Vitality County Championship match with Worcestershire at Canterbury, steering them to 362 for 8 at stumps.

The hosts still trail by 256 after an attritional third day, but Leaning batted through all three sessions and Beyers Swanepoel made 54 on his debut to boost their hopes of grinding out a draw on day four.

Matthew Waite took 3 for 51 but on a pitch that offered little joy for the bowlers, Worcestershire took just six wickets during a sapping day in the field.

Kent began day three on 111 for 2 and were untroubled for the first half hour. Leaning reached 50 for the first time in 11 first-class innings when he cut Smith through backward point for two, but Waite then produced a twin jab that briefly left them reeling. He bowled Daniel Bell-Drummond for 67, clipping his off stump with a straight one, then had Joe Denly lbw after just four balls.

Leaning and Harry Finch steadied the ship, steering Kent to 179 for 4 at lunch, but after surviving for 106 balls Finch tried to drive Waite and was caught at cover by Rob Jones.

That, however, was the visitors' only success during the afternoon session. The track and the outfield were both catatonic and this, combined with some coltish Worcestershire fielding, drastically limited the flow of boundaries, with 21 overs passing before the new ball arrived and Joey Evison punched Waite through the covers.

Having batted for exactly five hours, Leaning reached three figures just before tea when he drove Jason Holder through cow corner and although Evison edged both Gibson's final two balls before tea, neither carried to Holder at slip, leaving the hosts on 250 for 5. It was a short-lived reprieve for Evison as he bottom-edged Waite behind in the second over after the resumption and was out for 27.

Leaning and Swanepoel had to resist the urge to go all-out for a second batting point, but they came frustratingly close, falling just three runs short at the 110 over mark. Leaning cracked the first ball of the next over for four.

Swanepoel belied a jittery start and played with increasing fluency, although he rode his luck at times, nearly chopping Holder on to the stumps for the two that saw him reach his half-century, before he was eventually lbw to Brett D'Oliveira in the 122nd.

Leaning passed 150 and the game seemed to be meandering until Kashif Ali gave the visitors some renewed momentum when he bowled Wes Agar for six with the final ball of the penultimate over, to set up a potentially fascinating final day.