Resilient Kent deny Lancashire first victory

Kent's Grant Stewart has now scored three first-class centuries

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Stanley Park, Blackpool (day four)

Kent 374 & 328-8: Stewart 130, Evison 77*, Jaydn Denly 57; Green 4-104

Lancashire 639-9 dec: Turner 154, Wells 152, Bohannon 124; Evison 3-61

Lancashire (14 pts) drew with Kent (11 pts)

Match scorecard

Grant Stewart's glorious 130 helped to secure a nerve-shredding draw for Kent and frustrate James Anderson on a dramatic last day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at Blackpool.

Such an outcome had seemed unlikely in the extreme in mid-afternoon, when the visitors had slumped to 116-7 in the second innings, still 149 in arrears.

At that point it looked as though Anderson was on course for an innings victory in his first game as Red Rose skipper.

But Stewart and Joey Evison put on 182 for the eighth wicket in thrilling fashion to take Kent into the black, and even though Anderson had Stewart caught at cover for 130, Kent survived to finish on 328-8, with Evison unbeaten on a brilliantly gutsy 77 when the players shook hands.

Australian off-spinner Chris Green took 4-104 and Tom Bailey 3-61 for Lancashire, who are still waiting for their first Championship victory of the season. By contrast, the draw ended a dismal run of four defeats for Daniel Bell-Drummond's side.

Lancashire's Chris Green has played one T20 international for Australia

Needing to bat almost all day to avoid defeat, Kent chose to open the batting with specialist leg-spinner, Matt Parkinson, who was doing the job for the first time in his county career against his former club.

But it was Parkinson's opening partner, Ben Compton, who was the first batsman to go when he was lbw to Bailey for six in the sixth over of the morning.

Having removed their opponents' most adhesive batsman, Lancashire then dismissed Parkinson for four three overs later when he turned a ball from Green into the hands of Josh Bohannon at backward short leg.

The following hour was filled with appeals, none of them answered in the affirmative. Instead, Jaydn Denly and Bell-Drummond took their side to lunch on 74-2, the only alarm coming in the final over before the interval when Denly was struck a painful blow on the point of the elbow by Mitch Stanley.

Kent's equilibrium was then disturbed in an even more significant fashion four balls into the afternoon session when Bell-Drummond was dismissed for 13, Keaton Jennings sticking out his right hand to take a superb reflex catch at short leg off Green.

That success began a golden half hour for Green, who had Tawanda Muyeye caught by Jennings for three and Jack Leaning, held at slip by Luke Wells from successive deliveries to complete a devastating spell in which he had removed three top-order batsmen in 15 balls.

The only solace for Kent in this period came when Denly reached his maiden first-class fifty with a single off Stanley.

But it seemed that Lancashire were not to be denied. Now bowling off-spin, Bailey knocked back Denly's off stump with a fine ball when the 19-year-old had made 57 and four balls later, he had Harry Finch caught at short leg by Jennings for nought.

But Evison and Stewart then went on the attack in memorable fashion either side of tea. In the second over of the evening session, Stewart hit Mitchell Stanley for three leg-side sixes, reaching a 42-ball half-century in the process with five fours and four maximums.

Just 43 minutes later, a cover-driven four off Green took Stewart to his 79-ball hundred, He had smashed eight sixes in addition to nine fours and he and Evison had set a new eighth-wicket first-class record for Kent against Lancashire.

However, just when Kent were glimpsing safety, Stewart was caught at cover by Bailey for 130 and it needed Wes Agar to help Evison achieve a draw that must seem a little like a victory.

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