Kent secured LV= Insurance County Championship Division 1 survival on Tuesday as they racked up bonus points and built a first-innings lead against Somerset.

There were half-centuries at Canterbury for openers Zak Crawley and Tawanda Muyeye, and wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson, as Kent reached 405-7 and they are now safe.

With Warwickshire having declared against Hampshire on 272-4 and now unable to get maximum batting points, Kent cannot finish in the bottom two and they will finish on at least 142 points.

Play on a huge day for Kent started at The Spitfire Ground with Nathan Gilchrist on a hat-trick. His hat-trick delivery wrapped the pads of Jack Brooks, only for the umpire to turn down Kent’s appeals.

But it took just 10 minutes for Somerset’s final wicket to fall, Lewis Goldsworthy (94) only able to add one to his overnight score before he was dismissed off 22-year-old seamer Gilchrist, who claimed career-best figures of 6-61. That left Somerset 202 all out.

Openers Crawley and Muyeye made a good start to Kent’s first innings as Somerset wicketkeeper James Rew was left to rue dropping Muyeye in the ninth over when he was on 20.

After that, the opening duo looked largely untroubled. Indeed, Crawley - back from England Test duty - struck three successive fours in the 18th over before Muyeye hit a boundary of his own off the first ball of the next over.

The 100 came up in the 21st over while Crawley moved to 50 in the same over, having scored his 3,000 first-class run along the way.

Muyeye followed suit in the 23rd over, his half-century came up in 75 balls.

With Kent well placed at 149-0, the stage was then set for the club to honour departing legendary all-rounder Darren Stevens at lunch with a special presentation.

But 175-0 soon became 190-2 as Crawley was bowled for 79 by Ben Green (1-63) and Muyeye was caught behind for 85 by Rew off Kasey Aldridge (4-83).

Aldridge also picked up the wicket of Daniel Bell-Drummond. He nicked through the slips for four off Aldridge but was bowled off the very next ball for 36.

With the light fading and the rain starting to come down, an early tea was called.

The players came back out at around 3.30pm - heading straight off the pitch as the rain returned - but the evening session did start just under 10 minutes later.

Joe Denly didn’t stay around for long though. He pulled Aldridge straight down the throat of Sajid Khan and was dismissed for 38, leaving Kent 266-4 - now 62 runs ahead.

That brought Robinson, set to leave Kent for Durham ahead of the 2023 campaign, to the crease. Alongside Jack Leaning, he helped press home the hosts’ advantage, the score moving to 350 after 74 overs.

Robinson, who had overtaken Leaning, brought up his 50 in 51 balls.

But Leaning went for 41. Kent’s stand-in skipper danced down the track off spinner Khan (2-50) and miscued the ball to Tom Abell to leave Kent 354-5 having racked up four all-important batting bonus points at this stage. And Robinson was dismissed not long after for 52. He was also bowled by Khan, as he left the field for potentially the final time as a Kent batsman to leave them 355-6 in the 78th over.

Somerset took the second new ball but on-loan all-rounder Joey Evison (21) and Hamid Qadri continued to find the boundary regularly to move Kent’s lead towards the 200-run mark, although Evison was caught by Khan off Aldridge.

Qadri, 21, was able to add valuable runs though, and back-to-back boundaries took Kent well beyond 400 before the players left the field at 5.35pm for bad light. Confirmation the players wouldn't return to the field on day two came at 5.56pm.

Qadri was unbeaten on 27 off 36 balls and Conor McKerr, who is on loan from Surrey, had added two.

Crawley said: "We knew it was possible [Kent could be safe today] if they [Warwickshire] didn't get 350 but we thought they were going to get 350.

"We were surprised when they declared but it's, obviously, great news.

"We are pretty pleased but still want to win this game."