Lancashire still seek a first County Championship win after drawing with Kent at Blackpool CC

Such an outcome had seemed unlikely in mid-afternoon, when the visitors had slumped to 116-7 in their second innings.

They were still 149 in arrears after Lancashire had declared their first innings on 639-9, only for Stewart and Joey Evison to put on 182 for the eighth wicket and take Kent into the black.

Even though Anderson had Stewart caught at cover for 130, Kent survived to finish on 328-8 with Evison unbeaten on 77 when the players shook hands.

Chris Green took 4-104 and Tom Bailey 3-61 for Lancashire, who are still waiting for their first Championship victory of the season, while the draw ends a 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 Matt Parkinson, who was doing the job for the first time in his county career.

It was Parkinson’s opening partner, Ben Compton, who was the first batter dismissed when he was LBW to Bailey for six in the sixth over.

Having removed their opponents’ best and most adhesive batter, Lancashire then dismissed Parkinson for four three overs later.

The former Old Trafford favourite turned an off-spinner from Green into the hands of Josh Bohannon at backward short leg.

Jaydn Denly and Bell-Drummond took Kent to lunch on 74-2, the only alarm coming when the former was struck a painful blow on the point of the elbow by Mitch Stanley.

Four balls into the afternoon session, Bell-Drummond was dismissed for 13 as Keaton Jennings stuck 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 (3) caught by Jennings at short leg and Jack Leaning (0) caught at slip by Luke Wells off successive deliveries.

Kent’s only solace in this period came when Denly reached his maiden first-class 50 and the visitors’ hopes might have been raised a trifle when he put on 32 for the sixth wicket with Evison.

It seemed that Lancashire were not to be denied as Bailey knocked back Denly’s off-stump when the 19-year-old had made 57.

Four balls later, he had Harry Finch (0) caught at short leg by Jennings before Evison and Stewart then went on the attack.

In the second over of the evening session, Stewart hit Stanley for three vicious leg-side sixes and reached a 42-ball half-century in the process.

Forty-three minutes later, a cover-driven four off Green took Stewart to a 79-ball hundred as he and Evison set a new eighth-wicket first-class record for Kent against Lancashire.

However, just when Kent were glimpsing safety, Stewart was caught by Bailey and it needed Wes Agar (21 not out) to help Evison achieve a draw that must seem a little like a victory.

Speaking afterwards, 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, I thought it was a decent effort.

“Then to bat the way we did, I thought it was incredible. Everyone contributed throughout the innings with some really special knocks in there as well.

“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!

“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.

“Obviously, the lads are disappointed 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.

“We still stuck in and kept that energy throughout the game and allowed us to create chances and bowl them out.

“Then the way we applied ourselves with the bat – again, we sort of dug in when we needed to – and then, when there were chances to put pressure on the opposition, we did that.

“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.

“I think we’ve just got to keep believing that we’re doing the right things.”