Kent's hopes of winning only the fourth game of their LV=County Championship Division 2 campaign were dashed by a determined title-chasing Lancashire at Canterbury on Friday.

Lancashire, resuming on 47-2 in their second innings and still trailing the second-bottom hosts by 264 runs, batted through the final day to finish on 258-4 when play was called off 10 overs early.

The draw secured second-placed Lancashire promotion.

Visiting captain Steven Croft, who top-scored with 85 in the first innings, did so again this time, finishing unbeaten on 72 after arriving at the crease a little over 45 minutes before lunch.

He faced 209 balls, hit 10 fours and shared an unbroken stand of 120 with wicket-keeper Alex Davies (58 not out).

Davies' gritty innings came off 153 balls and included seven fours.

Lancashire knew they had to dig deep to save the game after being dismissed for 295 in their first innings in reply to the impressive 570 for 8 declared Kent posted.

And veteran South African batsman Ashwell Prince and young opener Haseeb Hameed started the day in stubborn fashion.

They added 62 in just under 17 overs before Prince was trapped leg before for 39 by Darren Stevens (1-57) when the score was 109.

Hameed was joined by his captain and the pair took the scored to 138 before Callum Haggett (1-41) bowled Hameed, who was playing in only his second first-class game, for a career-best 44 not long after lunch.

That proved to be the last joy for Kent in the session, and indeed the match, although Haggett had an appeal for a caught behind turned down when Davies had made only two.

James Tredwell (1-17) and Matt Coles (1-67) took the other wickets to fall in the innings.

Matt Hunn (0-57) and Joe Denly (0-7) went wicket-less.