Ben Phillips hit his first half-century for Somerset to help set Kent an unlikely victory target of 463 on the third day at Taunton.

The home side declared their second innings on 243-8 at lunch, with Phillips unbeaten on 53 against his former club. Justin Langer added 23 to his overnight 65 to finish as top scorer.

Kent were without skipper Robert Key when they batted for the second time. He was at home attending the birth of his second child, a son.

Without him the visitors struggled to 163-6 by the close after three interruptions for rain had held up Somerset's bid for victory inside three days.

At the end of play Phillips told somersetcountycc.co.uk: "It was nice to get a few runs and I enjoyed the experience of batting with Justin.

"I have felt for some time that a good score was just around the corner and it's always nice to do well against your old team-mates.

"It is a good pitch and we have concentrated on being more aggressive than the Kent bowlers. They tend to float the ball a bit and we have got more out of the surface.

"We have played some good cricket for three days and now have to finish the job. We aren't sure whether Key is coming back to bat, but whatever the case we just need to keep playing as we have done to clinch an important win."

Kent still require 300 for victory and their only hope appears more bad weather.

Somerset began the third day on 129-5 and soon lost Craig Kieswetter, who played a ball from Ryan McLaren onto his stumps, having made seven.

Langer was caught behind, driving at the same bowler. By then the skipper had faced 130 balls and hit 10 fours in a vital innings for his side.

Phillips enjoyed himself with 6 fours and a six over deep square off Yasir Arafat. Steffan Jones (16) and Alfonso Thomas (19 not out) chipped in before the closure, which left Kent with a minimum of 162 overs to reach their target.

It never looked likely as Jones had James Tredwell caught behind with the score on 12. Matthew Walker made 22 before being pinned lbw by Phillips to make it 54-2.

Joe Denly looked in little trouble and it was a surprise when, having scored 38, he had his off stump knocked back by Jones. Tea was taken at 81-3 when rain brought the first interruption.

Justin Kemp was then lbw on the back foot to the left-arm spin of Ian Blackwell and Thomas picked up the important wicket of Martin van Jaarsveld, caught behind gloving an attempted hook.

It was 145-6 when Arafat was well caught by substitute fielder Neil Edwards at second slip, driving at Charl Willoughby, but two more short breaks for rain held up Somerset's victory push.

Just five overs were left in the day after the second of those stoppages. They were negotiated by Geraint Jones (21 not out) and McLaren, but Kent still had a mountain to climb.

The wickets had been shared by five Somerset bowlers, with Jones claiming 2-38 from 11 overs. No Kent batsman has yet reached 40 in the game.

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