LANCASHIRE’S bid to clinch LV= County Championship promotion was held up during a frustrating second day with the ball yesterday as Kent limited them to only one bowling point and topped 500 in their first innings at Canterbury.

Steven Croft’s side will finish the job today should they close day three with 350 or more on the board in their first-innings reply to 570-8 declared.

They closed on 25-0 from ten overs of their reply before bad light and rain prevented any play beyond 5.15pm, meaning seven overs were lost.

Boltonians Karl Brown and Haseeb Hameed will resume today on 16 and six respectively.

And the best Lancashire can hope for from their 14th Division Two match of the campaign is a draw following a sorry bowling performance, particularly between lunch and tea.

The league leaders started this match needing five points to clinch promotion with three to play.

Should they fail to reach 350 in their first innings, a task which should be straightforward on a flat pitch, they will have to avoid defeat to clinch promotion this week.

Kent captain Sam Northeast led the way with a season’s best 139 off 221 balls yesterday to follow Rob Key’s century on day one.

Northeast shared 183 inside 39 overs for the sixth wicket either side of lunch with veteran all-rounder Darren Stevens, who hit 92 off 115.

They advanced from 315-5 before lunch after morning wickets for Jordan Clark and Tom Bailey.

Clark, who finished with 3-87 from 30 overs, had James Tredwell caught in the gully by Hameed having earlier struck the off-spinner a nasty blow on the right elbow with a short ball.

There is a possibility that Tredwell may not be able to bowl today.

Lancashire conceded 167 in 34 overs during the afternoon, with the lion’s share coming from Northeast and Stevens.

The pair fell either side of tea to left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan, who had Stevens superbly caught at deep mid-wicket by Hameed and Northeast stumped by Alex Davies.

Glen Chapple even returned figures of 0-126 from 33 overs, the first time in his career that he has gone through a Championship innings wicketless and conceded more than 100 runs.

Toby Lester later took a fine juggling catch running to deep backward square-leg to help Steven Croft get rid of Ryan Davies as he flirted with the boundary rope.