Rory Kleinveldt took five wickets to help Northants beat Kent by 10 wickets despite the all-round efforts of Hardus Viljoen.

At close of play on Wednesday, he had taken 4-8 and Kent were on the slide, with nightwatchman Viljoen on nine.

Kent brought in the Lions paceman for their last four county matches in a desperate bid to secure the one promotion spot on offer this season.

He starred with the ball in the first two matches, aiding and abetting two innings’ wins. And he was an unlikely hero with the bat, too, working his way judiciously to 63, off 106 balls. That proved to be the highest score by some margin as Kleinveldt, swinging the ball late, ripped through the top order, ending with 5-53.

He had also taken three wickets in Kent’s first innings of 230, and once Northants had run up 384 in reply (with 208 of those coming from Ben Duckett), Kent were always on the back foot.

Viljoen took three wickets in that innings, taking his tally in three games to 17. But he was not as disciplined as he might have been. He bowled 144 balls, of which 104 were dots. The 91 runs he conceded, at 3.79, came off 40 balls.

Elsewhere, Ryan McLaren grabbed his sixth first-class hundred in 127 matches as Hampshire built up 582-9 declared against Surrey’s 329.

His was the third hundred of the innings after former Zimbabwe captain Sean Ervine’s 154 and Tom Alsop’s 117.

McLaren made a significant contribution with the ball, too, taking 2-49, but another Saffa, 20-year-old Brad Wheal, stole the show by taking 4-100 off 22 overs.

Wheal, a former KwaZulu-Natal U19 player has been making a name for himself with some impressive performances for Hampshire across all formats after making his debut in 2015. He took eight wickets in four matches that year, including a four-for against Middlesex. He has already been called up for a Scotland XV, thanks to his mother’s birthright.

Surrey were 23-0 at stumps, trailing by 230 and looking at a long day ahead for a draw.