A century from Kent captain Sam Northeast (139) consolidated a strong start from Kent as they amassed a huge first-innings total of 570/8 to frustrate Lancashire's bid for promotion.
Kent enjoyed another superb day with the bat as Sam Northeast and Darren Stevens (92) accumulated 183 runs for the sixth-wicket stand on Day Two. Northeast's first century in Championship cricket this summer also saw the Kent captain pass 1,000 runs in four-day cricket, while Stevens' innings took the veteran all-rounder to 13,000 first-class runs.
Lancashire started the second day needing four more points to guarantee first-division status, but a flat pitch, one which was much more conducive to batting, made their search for bonus points a tough one indeed. The Division Two front-runners managed only two more wickets before the 110-over mark came, meaning that they could only muster one bowling point from this game.
Conditions worsened when Lancashire took their turn to bat, but the visitors managed to make it to close of play unscathed, reaching 25/0 as Karl Brown (16*) and Haseeb Hameed (6*) negated a tricky spell in the evening session.
Nightwatchman James Tredwell proved to be an easier scalp for Lancashire than Stevens and indeed Northeast, who was still unbeaten at tea on Day Two after starting the second day on just seven. Tredwell (11) handed Lancashire all-rounder Jordan Clark (3-87) his third victim after he had claimed the late wickets of Rob Key and Joe Denly in the evening session yesterday. The Kent spinner was caught well at gully by Haseeb Hameed with the score at 257/4, but success with the ball was far and few between for the Red Rose county.
Ben Harmison could only add 19 to the Kent total in a scratchy innings for the home side, although he was able to share a useful partnership worth 58 runs with Northeast before turning the ball to Toby Lester at mid-wicket, handing Tom Bailey (2-89) his second breakthrough of the innings. Northeast progressed to his fifty in 109 balls with eight fours before the lunch interval and the Kent batsman went on to become only the fifth player to score 1,000 runs in County Championship cricket this season, with Lancashire's Ashwell Prince being the first person to reach this milestone.
Stevens made the ideal batting partner for Northeast as the veteran all-rounder played a typically eye-catching innings to rub salt into the ever-growing wounds of the Lancashire bowling attack. The Kent all-rounder has a good record against the Red Rose in four-day cricket of late, scoring a double-hundred the last time he played against Lancashire on this ground and he could very well have secured a century if he had been able to reign in slightly cavalier approach.
It took only 59 balls for Stevens to race to a half-century with eight fours and the all-rounder advanced to 13,000 first-class career runs as he and Northeast denied Lancashire their sixth wicket and a second bowling bonus point. The hundred-partnership between Northeast and Stevens followed Kent reaching 400, although they were unable to score quickly enough to achieve maximum batting points.
Kent's onslaught continued to progress in the afternoon session; Stevens was thriving on a flat batting track, while Northeast went on to reach the 11th century of his first-class career in a purple patch against Simon Kerrigan. Northeast hit the left-arm spinner for three fours, before smashing him for six over long-on to take him to a 177-ball hundred, with his innings at this stage containing 13 fours and one six.
Stevens could well have been the third Kent batsmen to reach three figures in their first innings, clobbering Kerrigan for six, but in his efforts to replicate the shot over mid-wicket and the result, Stevens could only find the safe hands of Hameed on the boundary. His innings of 92 and 183-run partnership with Northeast had taken the Kent total to 498/6 just before tea, but the hosts were not yet satisfied with the number of runs they had on the board.
A short shower signalled an early tea interval and when the players returned to the field blue sky and sunshine welcomed Northeast for a final surge of class before he fell for a superb 139. Kerrigan (2-95) had been fortunate to collect the wicket of Stevens and Northeast rather threw his wicket away, handing Alex Davies a routine stumping at 511/7.
Kent's lower-order batsmen rallied to enhance their superiority, with Callum Haggett smashing 36 not out including two towering sixes, while wicketkeeper Ryan Davies managed 17 before he was caught well in the deep by a juggling effort from Toby Lester with the Kent total progressing to 548/8. Haggett continued to launch the Lancashire spinners to the boundary, before Kent eventually declared on the mammoth total of 570/8.
Lancashire finished the second day on 25/0 after Brown and Hameed applied themselves well in testing conditions, although the Kent seamers did little to threaten the Lancashire openers before bad light brought play to an early close, with the visitors still trailing by 545 runs.
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