Jesse Ryder was the star of another rain-affected draw in which neither Essex or Kent could force a Championship win at Canterbury.
Ryder took best-ever match figures of 10-110, his first ever ten-wicket haul.
On a decent Canterbury track, Kent won the toss and elected to bat on Saturday. Ryder made early inroads, taking the wickets of Rob Key (10) and Sam Northeast (2), before Brendan Nash joined Daniel Bell-Drummond (26) at the crease. The pair put on a partnership of 113 when Nash fell for 82 off the bowling of Tymal Mills.
Darren Stevens proved to be the glue to stick the Kent innings together, hitting 105 in 151 balls to push the hosts score on. He became Ryder's fifth wicket of the innings, with the New Zealander finishing on figures of 5-54, his first ever five-wicket haul.
Essex managed to bowl out Kent for 387 and set about chasing the lead down in confident fashion. Nick Browne (8) fell early to Mitch Claydon, but that brought Ravi Bopara to the crease. He and Tom Westley never looked trouble and both moved on to impressive centuries. Westley eventually was caught on day three for 116, but Bopara moved onto 162 before he was eventually out.
James Foster (46) pushed the score along, with Mills hitting a quick-fire 30 to give Essex full batting points and finish on 440.
With rain taking away too many overs, only a Kent capitulation with the bat could force a result. But once again Bell-Drummond seemed a hard man to dismiss as he moved struck 92 in 257 balls. Key (37) and Stevens (47) ably supported the 20-year-old as Essex were unable to make sizeable inroads.
There was still time for Ryder to take his second five-wicket haul, claiming 5-56 has the two skippers shook hands for the draw with Kent on 255-8.
