Ashley Shaw fires in a delivery against Derbyshire Picture: Barry Goodwin

Skipper Rob Key showed a return to form as Kent successfully batted out a draw against Derbyshire in LV= County Championship Division 2 on Friday.

Key hit 59 not out in Kent’s second innings of the rain-affected match at St Lawrence. Having been set 365 from 58 overs to win by the visitors, Kent reached 94-2 before the captains shook hands on a draw.

The stalemate at Canterbury ended a sequence of four consecutive championship defeats for Kent.

Derbyshire surprisingly opted to bat until after lunch on the final day, reaching 256-4 in their second innings.

Joe Denly went for a fifth-ball duck, bowled by Tim Groenewald, but Sam Northeast joined Key to put on 61 for the second wicket. Northeast departed for 21, leaving Martin van Jaarsveld to accompany his captain through to the close.

Kent had been on the backfoot throughout the game after centuries by Wayne Madsen (140) and Usman Khawaja (135) helped the visitors make 460 in their first innings.

The score represented something of a fightback by Kent, after Derbyshire had reached 327-1 at one stage. Kent were led by rookie Ashley Shaw, who took 5-118 in 26.1 overs.

Key and Denly went cheaply in Kent’s first innings, leaving half-centuries from Northeast (50), van Jaarsveld (95) and Geraint Jones (58) to bolster the hosts’ reply.

But, with the threat of having to follow on looming at 230-6 and then 287-8, Tredwell (34), Azhar Mahmood (21), Matt Coles (24) and Shaw (22 not out) helped Kent to a respectable 352.