KENT enjoyed another good morning on the third day of their LV Championship match with Lancashire at an overcast St Lawrence ground.

The hosts duly polished off the Lancashire first innings inside nine balls to secure a narrow lead of 10, and then went into lunch at 88 for two having lost makeshift opener James Tredwell and Martin van Jaarsveld.

It was Martin Saggers who gave Kent the breakthrough they yearned with his fourth ball of the day, an out-swinger from the Pavilion End that 'red rose' No.9 Sajid Mahmood nicked low to James Tredwell at first slip.

It gave Saggers excellent figures of five for 43 - his first five-wicket championship haul for Kent since August, 2003 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

With Muthiah Muralitharan incapacitated with a bicep strain and unable to bat, Kent had polished Lancashire off for 317 leaving themselves 29 overs to bat through to the interval.

Kent's usual opener Joe Denly, was off the field yesterday with a stomach virus and therefore unable to bat until the fall of the fifth wicket, so Tredwell stood in to open the innings with his skipper Rob Key.

They had posted 15 when Tredwell (3) played across the line of a Glen Chapple off-cutter tp go leg before.

Key and van Jaarsveld, who was dropped at second slip by Stuart Law off his first ball to avoid a third successive golden duck, then posted 50 for the second wicket before van Jaarsveld tossed away his won wicket.

Leaning back to cut a Dominic Cook long-hop, he picked out Paul Horton at deep cover to trudge off eight overs from the interval.

First innings century maker Matt Walker (16) then teamed up with Key to extend Kent's lead to 98, the latter going into lunch on 40 - needing a further 12 to become Kent's first batsman to post his 1,000 first-class run for the summer.

Scorecard:Kent first innings
J L Denly c Laxman b Chapple 19
R W T Key c Laxman b Newby 17
M van Jaarsveld lbw b Chapple 0
M J Walker c Law b Chapple 142
N J Dexter b Cork 42
G O Jones lbw b Muralitharan 7
J C Tredwell lbw b Muralitharan 19
R McLaren run out (Horton) 2
S J Cook lbw b Newby 38
M J Saggers b Newby 0
S L Malinga not out 1
Extras 40

Total 327 all out after 110 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-30, 2-30, 3-50, 4-173, 5-186, 6-231, 7-236, 8-324, 9-324.

Bowling: Chapple 22-5-63-3, Cork 20-8-36-1, Muralitharan 33.3-5-81-2, Newby 21-4-65-3, Mahmood 13.3-2-56-0.

Lancashire first innings
M J Chilton c Dexter b Tredwell 53
P J Horton c Sub (Lee) b Saggers 37
S J Croft lbw b Cook 29
S G Law b Tredwell 66
V V S Laxman c Tredwell b Saggers 10
L D Sutton c Jones b Saggers 12
G Chapple b Saggers 88
D G Cork st Jones b Tredwell 5
O J Newby not out 1
Extras 15

Total 317 all out (nine wickets down) after 96.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-85, 2-127, 3-135, 4-161, 5-179, 6-297, 7-315, 8-316, 9-317.

Bowling: Saggers 25.4-12-43-5, Malinga 9-1-41-0, Tredwell 36-6-146-3, Cook 19-9-43-1, Dexter 7-0-29-0.

Kent second innings
R W T Key not out 40
J C Tredwell lbw b Chapple 3
M van Jaarsveld c Horton b Cork 28
M J Walker not out 16
Extras 1

Total 88 for two after 29 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-15, 2-65.

Bowling: Chapple 7-1-17-1, Cork 11-3-22-1, Newby 5-0-27-0, Mahmood 5-0-17-0, Law 1-0-5-0.

Bonus points: Kent 6pts, Lancashire 6pts.