By his own demanding standards James Kirtley has had a season to forget, but the Sussex fast bowler finally had something to smile about at Canterbury yesterday.

Figures of 3-52 wouldn't normally be cause for celebration among members of the fast bowlers' union, but Kirtley's return on the third day against Kent were his best of the summer so far.

It's hard to believe that a player who has taken 50 first-class wickets in each of the past five seasons only crept into double figures for 2004 when Ed Smith drove his slower ball to mid-off midway through the afternoon session.

He steamed in again after tea to remove David Fulton and Matt Dennington, finally enjoying some sort of reward for his typically wholehearted endeavours.

Kirtley's season's best couldn't have been better timed. Chairman of selectors David Graveney was at the St Lawrence Ground, ahead of the announcement of the 14-man squad for next month's Champions Trophy later today.

Time will tell whether Graveney turned up to tell Kirtley, who made the last of his England one-day appearances in the West Indies less than four months ago, that he hadn't made the cut from the original 30 man squad. He has taken just 15 wickets in 17 one-day games this season so it would hardly be a surprise.

But one thing is certain. Sussex desperately need Kirtley to maintain the form he showed here in what is shaping up to be a tense last six weeks of the season.

Their first aim must be to try to escape from Canterbury with a draw. Fulton, worried about batting last on a biscuit-dry pitch, decided against enforcing the follow-on yesterday even though his side led by 195 on first innings.

Instead, they batted for 82.4 overs before setting Sussex 515 to win, 60 more than the county have ever made in the fourth innings.

Sussex faced just nine overs before bad light brought an early close, during which time openers Ian Ward and Richard Montgomerie had got the target down to 494.

After the run-fest of the first two days there was less excitement for the Festival crowd. Sussex never allowed the run rate to climb much higher than four an over while committed ground fielding kept the boundary count down.

Still, while Mushtaq Ahmed is bowling there is always something going on.

He came on in the 14th over and wheeled away until the declaration, stopping only for a bite to eat, a prayer and no doubt a puff on his fag during lunch and tea.

It took seven overs to get a breakthrough when he came round the wicket to snare Alex Loudon with a googly speared down leg side which Loudon obligingly chipped back to the bowler as he tried to whip the ball through square.

Loudon, who made his second half-century of the match, had helped Smith put on 99 after Fulton had been felled by the fourth ball of the innings when he ducked into a lifter from Mohammad Akram and spent the rest of the morning nursing a cut head.

Smith was in circumspect mood for long periods, but was nevertheless grinding remorselessly towards his second century of the match when Kirtley cleverly held one back and the batsman drove tamely to mid-off.

Kirtley bowled superbly in his second spell and two wickets in two balls in the 65th over were no more than he deserved. Fulton, who returned at the fall of the third wicket, was superbly caught at backward point by the diving Murray Goodwin and Dennington got a toe-crunching yorker two balls later to register a pair.

While Kirtley is looking more like his own self, Robin Martin-Jenkins' confidence is dipping all the time. Since capturing five Northamptonshire wickets at Hove at the end of May he has taken 2-228 in the Championship. Here he bowled just five overs and that was after Luke Wright had been brought on ahead of him as first change.

No one played Mushtaq with more confidence than the diminutive Matthew Walker who employed judicious use of the sweep shot before stepping on the gas with the declaration imminent to secure hundreds in the same match for the first time in his career.

There were two wickets for the persevering Akram. Michael Bevan lost his off stump shouldering arms and Niall O'Brien top-edged a hook to third man.

Before the declaration Mushtaq's leg break snared Robbie Joseph and if Sussex's batsmen show the same dedication as their bowlers there is every chance they could head home tonight with a draw.