Kent finished the happier of the two sides on the second day of their LV=Insurance County Championship Division 1 clash with Lancashire after building a substantial first-innings lead on Tuesday.

Lancashire had been honest about their intentions to play on a pitch used just a few days before for England’s one-day international match with India but their decision backfired somewhat when they were bowled out for just 145 in a ferocious morning session, mainly down to the bowling of Matt Henry, that saw nine wickets fall in 28 overs.

Half-centuries from Joe Denly, Jack Leaning and Grant Stewart saw a topsy-turvy day swing in favour of the visitors who were dismissed for 270 before the Red Rose closed on 2-0 at the beginning of their second innings.

The day began with the news Kent captain Sam Billings had tested positive for Covid and was to be replaced by Ollie Robinson behind the stumps, with Leaning taking over as captain.

It set the tone for a bizarre day which saw Washington Sundar play no shot to the second delivery of the morning from Henry, only to see the ball jag back and take out his off-stump.

Two balls later and George Lavelle had departed, edging his second ball from Henry to Zak Crawley without scoring and 112-4 overnight had quickly become 112-6.

The excellent Henry was on a roll and Steven Croft was next to go for 31, caught behind by temporary wicketkeeper Jordan Cox, who had donned the gloves as Kent awaited the arrival of Robinson.

Henry’s fourth quickly followed when Tom Bailey received a brute of a third delivery that uprooted his stumps with Luke Wood handing the New Zealander his five-for when he chipped a catch to Stewart at mid-on for 18.

By then, Henry had taken 5-14 from 29 deliveries and Lancashire were all but done at 145-9, with Nathan Gilchrist picking up the final wicket of Will Williams to a great catch in the gully from Daniel Bell-Drummond with no addition to the total.

Six wickets had fallen for 33 runs inside the first hour but the wickets didn’t stop there when Kent came out to bat.

Ben Compton found Sundar at point off Bailey’s second ball of the reply without scoring before Bell-Drummond was trapped lbw by Williams to leave the visitors 5-2.

Meanwhile, Crawley was defending for his life and the England opener had faced 26 balls without getting off the mark when the 27th saw him clip Williams to a diving Wood at midwicket to leave Kent 12-3 off 10 overs and the Lancashire members wondering if they’d better make plans for day three!

Denly and Leaning started the rebuild and they did it in painstaking fashion with the slow outfield meaning boundaries were at a premium and hard-run threes were the order of the day.

Leaning was dropped by Rob Jones at slip on 32 but, by the time the century partnership came up for the fourth wicket off 212 balls, the sun was out at Emirates Old Trafford and batting was appearing a far easier prospect.

Denly finally departed just before tea for 59 when he failed to remove his bat in time to a Bailey delivery and edged one to a grateful Lavelle, but the 106-run partnership had put his county well on the way to a lead.

Or had it? Straight after the interval, two wickets fell in an over for the second time in the day as Cox top-edged a Bailey delivery to Wood for two before Robinson was lbw third ball for 0.

This left Kent 120-6 and Lancashire hopeful they could stay in the game with a narrow lead for the visitors.

It was not to be.

Just as Leaning had found a willing partner in Denly, Grant Stewart stepped up and the seventh-wicket pair began building the second century partnership of the innings but with far more attacking intent.

Leaning would eventually depart just after 6pm for 90 off 209 balls, edging Jack Morley to slip where Luke Wells took a fine catch low down to his right.

From there, Stewart did his best to marshal the tail as a Henry nick behind gave Bailey his fifth wicket before Williams claimed his third, rearranging Gilchrist’s stumps.

By the time Navdeep Saini skied one to Josh Bohannon for three to leave Bailey with figures of 6-64 and Stewart unbeaten on 64, Kent had a lead of 125 and Lancashire were forced to take to the field for two overs which were negotiated by Wells and Keaton Jennings.

Leaning said: “If we’d have set out at the start of the day and said ‘what do we want’ we’re probably not a million miles away from what we’d have wanted.

“To bowl them out early on and then to get a pretty sizeable lead on this pitch, we are really happy.

“I was just trying to stick to a game plan – their seamers bowled really well and didn’t let up much. But we talked as a team about being really proactive against the spinners and not letting them settle - even if that meant just rotating the strike and getting three or four runs an over.

"We did that really well as a unit.”