LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Old Trafford:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO: Lancashire 320 & 68-3, Kent 213
Lancashire 6 pts, Kent 4 pts
Match scorecard

Kent batsman Darren Stevens hit the 18th first-class century of his career

Lancashire hopes of starting with three Championship wins for the first time in 15 years remain intact despite Kent centurion Darren Stevens.

Replying to the home side's first-innings 320 at Old Trafford, Kent were in real danger of following on at 97-7.

But Stevens hit an unbeaten 101, to put on 92 for the eighth wicket with Matt Coles (33), as Kent reached 213, Saj Mahmood claiming 5-55.

Lancashire then increased their lead to 175 as they reached 68-3 at the close.

While Mahmood will look back on the day with pleasure, it was Stevens' innings which altered the balance of the game.

Mixing doughty defence with uninhibited aggression, the former Leicestershire all-rounder, who had taken four wickets in Lancashire's first innings, clubbed two mighty sixes and 10 fours in his 129-ball stay.

Stevens needed his luck - home skipper Glen Chapple dropped a steepler at deep mid-on when he was 53. But he perhaps deserved a little good fortune and his performance spiked the guns of a home attack led by the fired-up Mahmood.

Most of Kent's top order were unable to cope with Lancashire's purposeful and well-directed new-ball bowling in the pre-lunch session.

Only Geraint Jones survived for long, and even he lunched knowing that he had ridden his luck.

Chapple started the rot, claiming the 700th first-class wicket for the county, when he moved one away from Robert Key and in the next over, Joe Denly received a savage lifter from Mahmood which he gloved to Sutton.

Martin van Jaarsveld then fell for Chapple's three-card trick, tamely giving a catch to backward short-leg Simon Kerrigan, who had been deliberately placed there a few balls previously.

When Sam Northeast sliced Tom Smith to Ashwell Prince in the gully, Kent were 53-4 and thoroughly in the cart.

Jones' irresponsible slash gave Mahmood his second wicket three overs after the break, Smith's swing then accounted for James Hockley and a stunning one-handed diving catch by Steven Croft in the gully saw the end of Simon Cook.

While wickets fell at the other end, Stevens had been adopting a policy of selective aggression and he maintained this policy in company with Coles as Lancashire's hopes of enforcing the follow-on sagged.

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