Daniel Bell-Drummond made an unbeaten 79 to steer his side to a deserved seven-wicket victory over Lancashire in the County Championship match at Old Trafford.
The Kent skipper has now passed fifty in four of his eight innings this season but he and the other Kent batters had to withstand a trial by spin before reaching their target of 164 and completing their county’s first win on the ground since 1997.
Both Nathan Lyon and Tom Hartley induced a number of false shots in the first hour of play and umpires Paul Pollard and Graham Lloyd turned down a number of vociferous appeals as Lancashire sought to win a first-class match after following on for the first time since 1888.
However, it was noticeable that Kent’s top order managed to keep the scoreboard moving even when batting was difficult and Lancashire bowled no maidens on the final day.
Both the wickets to fall were taken by Lyon, who caught and bowled Ben Compton for 29 – thus ending his 86-run stand with Bell-Drummond – before having Jack Leaning caught at slip by Luke Wells for 16.
But those wickets never threatened to prompt a collapse and the game ended in a flurry of boundaries as the visitors completed their first win of the season eight minutes before the scheduled lunch interval.
Joe Denly struck the winning four to finish on 19 not out. Lyon took 2-48, while Hartley bowled 13 wicketless overs for 42 runs.
It is Kent’s first Championship victory over Lancashire since 2013 and it moves them up to sixth in the Division One table. Lancashire are still without a win this season and remain bottom of the pile.
