Adam Ball says his career-best Championship knock which helped Kent to a memorable win over Lancashire was ‘a very special day’ - but hopes it won’t be his last match-winning contribution.

While Darren Stevens claimed the limelight for an imperious unbeaten double-century, 20-year-old Ball, in just his 11th First Class appearance, spent two hours at the other end, amassing his maiden half-century and helping put on 148 for the sixth wicket as Kent sneaked a two-wicket win over the champions.

Ball admitted: “It was a very special day to be a part of and a great experience for me.

“We all know Stevo is capable of match-winning performances like that but he just needed someone at the other end to stay with him and get him there.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t quite able to see it through to the end, but I suppose I did a pretty good job to get us that close.”

He added: “It was good to finish the season on a high and hopefully it will give us some momentum. It has been one of those seasons in the Championship which really could have gone either way. We only lost two games and if we had managed to turn some of those draws into wins it might have been a different story.”

After the match Ball was hailed as a genuine all-rounder by coach Jimmy Adams and revealed: “I have not had the greatest season with the ball, unfortunately the injury in mid-season really didn’t help me at all.

“To be honest I found it tough to get back into my bowling after that, but I managed to score a load of runs in the 2nds and it got me into the team at seven in the 40-over stuff and at eight in the Championship.

“Hopefully my batting will play a massive role in what will hopefully be a long career for me. We all want Stevo to carry for a while yet, but hopefully one day it would be good to have that kind of impact on the team.”