The LV= Insurance match between Kent and Essex at Canterbury ended in a draw after the weather wiped out the final day.

Heavy rain fell throughout and play was officially abandoned at 1pm.

Kent had ended day three on 342 for seven, trailing Essex’s first innings total of 451 for five declared by 109, but a draw had always looked likely and in total 206 overs were lost across the four days.

The limited amount of cricket there was had been highly entertaining, with Nick Browne and Tom Westley scoring 159 and 148 for the visitors and Zak Crawley responding with a brilliant 170 on day three, but conditions on Sunday started badly and had no realistic prospect of improving.

Essex take 12 points and Kent eight.

“Both teams wanted to maximise points. We wanted to try and get as many batting points and we could and if we’d bowled them out cheaply we could have gone for the win," said Essex's Simon Harmer.

"But I think it’s quite obvious that’s out of the questions so we’re just trying to take as many wickets and get as many bowling points as we can.

“I think with the newer ball there was definitely something there but as the ball got softer and older it started to turn less and less.

“I think the optimist would have been looking at a win, but if you look at how we played when we played conventionally, they only took one wicket.

"I think the wicket was quite flat and it’s a very good four-day wicket. I think if this had been played over four days it would have been a hell of a game, but with the weather playing a part and the amount of time we’ve lost realistically we weren’t going to be able to pull off the impossible.

“Zak obviously took his chances. He wanted to play aggressively and Kent wanted to try and get as many points as possible. He got the rub of the green and there was a dropped catch, but don’t take that away from him, he’s a hell of a player and hopefully he can have a successful Ashes series this summer.”