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 for seven 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 for eight, with Evison unbeaten on a brilliantly gutsy 77 when the players shook hands.

Australian off-spinner Chris Green took four for 104 and Tom Bailey three for 61 for Lancashire, who are still waiting for their first Championship victory of the season.

By contrast, the draw ends a dismal run of four defeats for Daniel Bell-Drummond’s side.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.

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

Having removed their opponents’ best and most adhesive batsman, Lancashire then dismissed Parkinson for four three overs later when the former Old Trafford favourite turned an off-spinner from Green into the hands of Josh Bohannon at backward short leg.

The following hour was filled with appeals, most of them cacophonous, none of them answered in the affirmative. Instead, Jaydn Denly and Bell-Drummond took their side to lunch on 74 for two, 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 a shortish ball from 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 at short leg for three and Jack Leaning, caught at slip by Luke Wells off 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 and the hopes of the visitors might have been raised a trifle when he put on 32 for the sixth wicket with Joey Evison.

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 Grant Stewart then went on the attack in utterly memorable fashion sharing a stand filled with attacking strokeplay either side of tea. In the second over of the evening session, Stewart hit Mitchell Stanley for three vicious 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.     

Joey Evison, Kent all-rounder said: “It got pretty tense towards the end. Grant Stewart played a magnificent innings to get us a draw which was a very good result, given that we were behind the eight ball for three out of the four days.

“We’re pretty pleased. Grant and I just tried to bat in twenty-minute segments. I had to put my ego aside when Grant came in and he was scoring really freely. I was just trying to play nice and straight until I got a loose ball.

“It’s been a pretty tough season for me, so I just pleased I could dig in. It’s not the way I normally try and bat but when Grant’s playing like that, you can’t do too much because we were going at six or eight an over anyway.”

James Anderson said: “I think we played some great cricket throughout the week.

“We won the toss and bowled, not really knowing what it was going to do. It felt really slow from day one, but I thought the way we stuck at our task in the first innings of bowling Kent out for 360-odd, I thought it was a decent effort.

“And then to bat the way we did, I thought it was incredible. A record-breaking day for the lads, everyone contributed throughout the innings with some really special knocks in there as well. And that put us in a great position to have a crack at winning the game today.

“There were times throughout the day where we thought we were on top and had a really good chance. But credit to Kent there, they hung on at the end.

“It was a strange wicket. At times, it felt like it was spinning and spitting. And you felt in the game every ball, especially with Chris Green. I thought he bowled brilliantly.

“He’s used to playing mainly T20 cricket and he’s done two months worth, I think, in three days! So he’s done a fantastic effort. But as the ball got softer, it did less.

“As I said, I thought they played well. Their lower order played really well. It just made it hard for us to make that breakthrough. We knew the new ball was coming, but we only had a short period of time with the new ball to get those last couple of wickets. And it proved not long enough.

“Obviously, the lads are disappointed in the dressing room not to get the win. But I just think the way we approached this week felt different to the rest of the season.

“We had a lot of positive energy in the field, even when they built partnerships in the first innings when Compton got 100.

“We still stuck in and kept that energy throughout the game and allowed us to create chances and bowl them out. And then the way we applied ourselves with the bat, again, we sort of dug in when we needed to. And then when there was chances to put pressure on the opposition, we did that.

“And I feel like if we keep playing like that for the rest of the season, then we’re going to win games. We’re always looking to push the game forward, always looking to put the opposition under pressure. And today, there were quite a few chances.

“We put a few chances down in the field. There were balls that were just landing in safe spaces. And on other days, they’ll go to hand and you’ll get over the line.“So I think we’ve just got to keep believing that we’re doing the right things.”