Kent were 84-2 at stumps, chasing 140 to win their Rothesay County Championship with Lancashire, after another nerve-shredding day in the Division Two promotion race at Canterbury.

Zak Crawley top-scored with 84 as third-placed Kent made 214 in their first innings, Mitch Stanley taking all three wickets to fall on the second day, to finish with four for 61.

Matt Milnes, Khaled Ahmed and Keith Dudgeon all took three wickets apiece as Lancashire were bowled out for 192 second time round, setting Kent a target of 140. Michael Jones was their top scorer with 54.

Kent wobbled to 22 for two in reply, but Tawanda Muyeye and Sam Northeast were unbeaten on 37 and 23 respectively at the close, meaning they need 56 more runs to win on day three.

Lancashire endured a frustrating first hour, as Crawley and Milnes batted Kent into the lead, wiping out a 10-run overnight deficit.

Crawley, 68 overnight, was the first man to go. He was put down by Marcus Harris off James Anderson, before Stanley pinned him in front.

Stanley then got Khaled Ahmed with a toe-crusher for nought, before he bowled Matt Quinn after an entertaining cameo of 13, leaving Milnes unbeaten on 40 and Kent with a first innings lead of 53.

Khaled struck in his first over, getting Keaton Jennings caught by Crawley at first slip, before Jones and Josh Bohannon took Lancashire to 38 for one at lunch.

Bohannon, however, went without adding to his 14 soon after, when he edged Quinn to Northeast at second.

Marcus Harris joined Jones for a stand of 71, but just as Lancashire were looking set, Milnes had the latter lbw. Rocky Flintoff then got a pair when he was lbw for a second-ball duck to Dudgeon in the next over.

Milnes took the key wicket of Jones when he had him lbw, leaving Lancashire on 142 for five at tea.

Khaled had Arav Shetty caught behind for 11 in the first over of the evening session before Dudgeon bowled George Balderson’s off stump for 13.

Tom Bailey hit eight before he slashed Milnes to Muyeye and Matty Hurst fell into a trap, flicking a Dudgeon full toss for a six, only to sky the next delivery to Bell-Drummond at extra cover.

Milnes then castled Stanley for 1, leaving Kent with 16 overs in the day, but they lost both openers cheaply.

Ben Compton was bowled by Bailey for five and then Balderson, who replaced Anderson after just thee overs, had Crawley caught behind for 13 by Hurst, who was standing up to the stumps.

After that initial shock the runs flowed more freely and Northeast and Muyeye took Kent past the halfway mark, with Muyeye flaying six fours to ease the nerves of the home supporters.

Kent’s Khaled Ahmed said: “I’m very happy. Firstly, I try to bowl in the channel, time to time, so I stay strict in the process. The first spell was quite slow, but after lunch it was coming a little bit. So we are doing partnership bowling, then the wickets come.

(On being on a hat-trick ball after the first innings). “Yeah, I forgot this one. Someone told me ‘you missed the hat-trick’. Obviously, I wanted one, but yeah, I’m very happy. The guys also appreciate me, so I’m very happy.

“I miss Hasan (Mahmud) but he sent me a video and wished me good luck. Both (batters) are doing well today, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll continue.”

Lancashire’s Marcus Harris said: “It (the wicket) was a little bit tricky. I think probably as we expected, they were going to need a result, so coming into the game as a batsman, it was going to be on the trickier side, but there’s definitely opportunities to make runs there.

“I think you’ve seen three or four people in the game get in and no one’s really gone on with it yet. It’s that sort of pitch. I thought Zak Crawley played really well with that 80 yesterday and today, and then I thought Michael Jones just had a really good game with the bat on a tricky surface.

“It feels like we’ve encountered a few tricky wickets in the last little bit (of the season), but it’s still no excuse for not having made enough runs.

“Ideally, I’d like to spend more time in the middle. I haven’t done that in the last five or six games, which is my job. But yeah, we’ve obviously had a young group in this last couple of weeks, so just trying to speak to them a little bit. I’ve spoken a lot to Rocky Flintoff out in the field.

“You know, young guys now, they want to get everywhere at a million miles an hour. They put themselves under a lot of pressure, but we definitely got the talent there, so that’s not an issue. I thought Rock had a really good week last week, and then that’s cricket for you.

“You come out there this week and that happens. It’s a tough lesson, but you sort of hope that we learn from it and it kicks us forward in the right direction.

(On James Anderson) “He’s unbelievable. I just can’t believe he keeps playing. The amount of tape that he’s got on his legs, I’m not sure if you’ve seen it, but there’s a lot of stuff holding him together. He’s bowled unbelievably again this week, so it’s been a privilege to play with him.

“I don’t take it for granted getting to play with someone like that. I think you can. We’ve been so lucky to have him around for the last couple of years, but those guys don’t come around very often, so I cherish every time I get to walk on the field with him.”