IT WAS a day of cat and mouse, a game of patience at St Lawrence as Kent attempted to winkle out Lancashire for a second time without conceding a huge deficit.

Come the third day close, home skipper Rob Key had more or less achieved his goal, having dismissed the visitors for 436 leaving his side the fourth and final day to chase 215 for a famous win.

Resuming on their overnight score of 56 for two, Lancashire’s third wicket partners Mal Loye and Stuart Law set out their stall to bat until lunch.

Kent had an opportunity to part the pair just four overs into the day when Law lent back to cut against Tyron Henderson only for Martin van Jaarsveld to spill the stinging low chance in a short gully position.

Law and Loye made the most of the let off by going on to add 170 in 56 overs as Kent’s attack struggled to extract any life from the sublime surface.

Key permed his bowlers, tried some innovative field positions and even gave an over to occasional spinner van Jaarsveld but the pair batted on beyond lunch and seemingly toward certain centuries.

When just three short of reaching three figures Loye pushed at and edged a Henderson leg-cutter only for Niall O’Brien to drop a regulation chance.

His blushes were spared when one-run later Khan jagged one back off the seam to brush Law’s inside edge for O’Brien to take a far tougher catch tumbling to his left.

As is often the way after a long stand the other partner soon followed and Law fell for 85 when cutting a loose ball from Henderson straight to Darren Stevens at backward point.

O’Brien further blotted his copybook when spilling another inside edge off the bowling of Khan with Nathan Astle yet to get off the mark, once again it proved an expensive miss as the Kiwi settled in with Andrew Flintoff to add 78 in 21 overs and take Lancashire into the overall lead.

They were exactly 60 ahead when Flintoff, having scored 37 from 49 balls, aimed a lusty blow against Stevens only to pick out Henderson at long-on to raise the biggest cheer of the day.

Kent took the second new ball soon after tea, but sadly Khan proved somewhat wasteful and bowled far too short.

Another chance went begging when Patel downed Glenn Chapple at mid-off from the luck-less Henderson.

Eventually the red mist cleared for Khan and bowling a far better length he accounted for Astle to a can Jaarsveld catch at second slip for a hugely forgettable 84.

Chapple reached a chancy 50 from 47-balls full of forehand smashes over the bowler’s head whenever Kent dropped short but, two balls after reaching the milestone, he slogged at Martin Saggers to lose middle stump.

Lancashire’s first innings top-scorer Gareth Cross gave Khan a fourth victim when he snicked to van Jaarsveld for two then Cork’s attempted run down against Saggers brushed his gloves to give van Jaarsveld a third catch.

Sajid Mahmood’s lusty hitting took the red rose lead beyond 200 until he holed out to long-on off the golden-armed partnership breaker Stevens.

Key and Fulton had no alarms in surviving the final four overs of the day, meaning Kent have 96 overs on Friday to knock off the remaining 212 – with Andrew Flintoff itching to make an impression, it could well be a tense day!

SCORECARD

Lancashire first innings

M J Chilton c O’Brien b Saggers 31
I J Sutcliffe b Khan 10
M B Loye c O’Brien b Henderson 6
S G Law b Khan 53
N J Astle c van Jaarsveld b Henderson 7
A Flintoff c O’Brien b Henderson 4
G Chapple c Fulton b Henderson 0
G D Cross lbw b Khan 72
D G Cork c Walker b Saggers 10
S I Mahmood c Henderson b Saggers 3
G Keedy not out 2

Extras 20

Total 218 all out after 57.5 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-58, 2-29, 3-58, 4-92, 5-102, 6-102, 7-184, 8-205, 9-216.

Bowling: Khan 17-2-73-3, Henderson 14-5-29-4, Bravo 9-0-50-0, Saggers 12.5-4-38-3, Stevens 2-0-8-0, Patel 3-1-7-0.

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Flintoff b Chapple 29
R W T Key b Flintoff 0
M van Jaarsveld lbw b Flintoff 6
M J Walker run out (Mahmood) 197
D I Stevens c Cross b Cork 25
D Bravo c Law b Astle 76
N J O’Brien c Chapple b Mahmood 10
T Henderson c Chapple b Mahmood 13
M M Patel c Chapple b Mahmood 0
M J Saggers not out 2

Extras 28

Total 440 all out after 130.3 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-28, 2-42, 3-56, 4-109, 5-246, 6-283, 7-299, 8-301, 9-422.

Bowling: Cork 23-6-76-1, Chapple 21-5-75-1, Flintoff 19-4-45-2, Mahmood 20-2-79-3, Keedy 39.3-4-128-1, Astle 8-1-17-1.

Lancashire second innings

I J Sutcliffe b Khan 6
M J Chilton c O’Brien b Henderson 1
M B Loye c O’Brien b Khan 98
S H Law c Stevens b Henderson 85
N J Astle c van Jaarsveld b Khan 84
A Flintoff c Henderson b Stevens 37
G Chapple b Saggers 50
G D Cross c van Jaarsveld b Khan 2
D G Cork c van Jaarsveld b Saggers 23
S I Mahmood c Walker b Stevens 22
G Keedy not out 2

Extras 26

Total 436 all out after 114.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-2, 2-12, 3-202, 4-204, 5-282, 6-376, 7-385, 8-385, 9-412.

Bowling: Khan 26-4-129-4, Henderson 27-5-87-2, Bravo 6-2-16-0, Saggers 15-3-52-2, Stevens 15.4-0-72-2, Patel 24-0-68-0, van Jaarsveld 1-0-1-0.

Kent second innings

D P Fulton not out 1
R W T Key not out 2

Extras 0

Total 3 without loss after four overs.

Bowling: Flintoff: 2-2-0-0, Cork 2-03-0.

Bonus points: Kent 8pts Lancashire 4pts.

* Mark Pennell's final day report will appear here at the close of play today.