Fulton and Patel's best in vain as Somerset escape with draw

Richard Johnson, the man pulled out of this Canterbury Cricket Week fixture on Wednesday to answer England's Trent Bridge SOS, was the Somerset batting hero as the second-placed visitors held out for a draw against third-placed Kent.

Having avoided the follow-on by scrambling two leg-byes from the second ball of the fourth and final day, Somerset were finally dismissed for 336 to concede a first innings deficit of 115.

Kent batted again for just 36.4 overs in adding a further 205 for three, with in-form opening batsman David Fulton scoring an unbeaten 104 for his seventh first-class century of a prolific summer.

The 29-year-old right-hander scored an unbeaten 208 in the first innings, making his the first Kent batsman since Aravinda de Silva in 1995 to score a century in each innings of a match - but the county's first to be not out in each innings.

Matthew Fleming's declaration left Somerset an unlikely victory target of 321 from 41 overs, but with left-armer Min Patel and off-spinner Andrew Symonds bowling in tandem Kent were able to crowd the bat and apply the pressure.

Only captain Jamie Cox and Peter Bowler made it past 20 for Somerset as Patel followed his first innings haul of eight for 119, with four victims second time around to finish with career-best match figures of 12 for 144.

Symonds chipped in with three for 28 from the Nackington Road End, but it was Johnson and his ninth wicket partner Steffan Jones who batted out the final six overs of the match to prevent Kent from pulling off their fourth consecutive championship win.

Fulton, who now boasts a season's first-class run tally to 1,465 at an average of 73.25, also claimed seven catches in the match - but Kent were left to rue their six missed chances of day three.