Kent 178 and 320 for 8 (Benjamin 101*, Finch 83) lead Lancashire 87 (Dudgeon 6-21, Mahmud 3-32) by 411 runs

In an extraordinary first session, nine wickets fell for 82 runs in 27 overs. Eight of those wickets belonged to Lancashire batters, whose team collapsed from their overnight 17 for two to 87 all out, each departure being greeted with silence from the home crowd.

Dudgeon struck the first blow when he bowled Josh Bohannon for eight with a fine ball that seamed away from the Lancashire batsman. Matt Milnes then castled nightwatchman Tom Bailey for three before Mahmud made an immediate impression on his Kent debut. The Bangladeshi seamer had Marcus Harris caught at slip by Sam Northeast for three with his seventh delivery in first-class English cricket and produced a superb delivery twenty minutes later to have Liam Livingstone caught behind for eight

Dudgeon returned to the North End and bagged three of the last four wickets, bowling top-scorer Ben McDermott off the inside edge for 23 before Hasan had Joe Moores caught at slip by Ben Dawkins for eight on his Lancashire first-class debut. Dudgeon then dismissed George Balderson for four and James Anderson for two in the same over but that left just enough time before lunch for Anderson to have Dawkins caught at slip by Harry Singh off the first ball of Kent’s second innings.

Kent’s batsmen built on their superiority in impressive fashion during the afternoon session. Northeast helped Finch put on 55 for the second wicket before he was caught at slip by Singh off Balderson for 23 but the visitors were 143 for two at tea and lead had reached an already formidable 234.

Lancashire took six wickets in the 40-over evening session but could not prevent Kent ending the day with a colossal lead. Bell-Drummond fell to the second ball after tea, caught behind by Moores down the leg side off Balderson for 34 and Ekansh Singh was bowled by Livingstone for 14.

After batting for 190-minutes and hitting 12 fours and a six, Finch was dismissed for 83 three overs later when he nicked a good ball from Balderson to Moores and Bertie Foreman was lbw to Tom Aspinwall for 11. Dudgeon was dismissed by Anderson for 16 and Balderson took his third wicket when he had Milnes caught on the boundary for eight. But Benjamin took heavy toll of a tiring attack and reached his second century of the season in the penultimate over of the day. The Kent wicketkeeper reached his landmark off 76 balls having hit six fours and five sixes.