There was a frustrating day for relegation-threatened Kent in the LV= Insurance County Championship at Canterbury, as Lancashire recovered from 18 for three and 240 for eight to reach 327 all out at stumps.

Josh Bohannon scored 113 and put on a crucial 121 for the fifth wicket with George Balderson, who made 54. Matthew Hurst also cashed in after being dropped on seven to finish unbeaten on 76.

Kent at least took the full compliment of bowling bonus points, with Matt Quinn and Aron Nijjar both claiming three wickets.

The spectre of the drop has loomed over Kent for most of the season and the equation going into the final game was simple: a single point ahead of Middlesex at the start of play and having just two victories to Middlesex’s three, they will go down if the teams finish level.

For Lancashire the situation was altogether more relaxing: safe from relegation and with a theoretical chance of finishing in the top three, they won the toss and chose to bat, to the relief of home fans awaiting reinforcement in the form of Zak Crawley, on England duty but eligible to play from tomorrow.

An all-seam attack had struggled to make any impact in the draw with Somerset, but the hosts were boosted by the return of Quinn and Nathan Gilchrist from injury and both made an early impact.

Both openers went cheaply. Quinn struck in the fourth over, when Keaton Jennings was caught by a sprinting Ben Compton at leg gully for four.

Nathan Gilchrist then had Luke Wells caught behind for five and home hopes surged when keeper Harry Finch, selected ahead of club captain Sam Billings, took a superb diving catch when Steven Croft edged Quinn down the leg side, handing Kent an early bowling point.

Their optimism was ephemeral. Lancashire responded with stand of 78 between Bohannon and

George Bell, who looked fluent for 40 before Quinn had him caught behind.

Bohannon reached 50 when he took two from Aron Nijjar in the final over before lunch, at which point it was 106 for four.

Lancashire seized the momentum in the afternoon. When Bohannon hit Joey Evison for four through cow corner it brought up his tenth first-class century. By the time he was stumped trying to charge Jack Leaning, Lancs were 217 for five and George Balderson was set, taking a single from Leaning to bring up his half-century.

It was 231 for five at tea, but Balderson failed to add to his score, caught at short leg by Compton off Yuzvendra Chahal and handing Kent a second bowling bonus point.

Tom Bailey made a seven-ball duck, hitting Aron Nijjar straight to Gilchrist at extra cover but Hurst was on seven when he edged Nijjar to first slip and he was dropped by Leaning.

Nijjar didn’t have to wait long for his second wicket as Jack Blatherwick tried to slog him and was caught by a back-pedalling Daniel Bell-Drummond at long off, but Hurst then led a counter-attack that exasperated the hosts.

He hit Chahal for six and had moved to 44 by the time he skied Quinn and Evison couldn’t quite haul him in. A scampered single from Quinn took him to 50 and with Will Williams he saw off the new ball, steering Lancs past the 300 mark.

Nijjar secured a third bonus point when he had Williams lbw for 11 and the day at least ended on a high for Kent when, with the very last ball, Chahal bowled Jack Morley for two. The other chink of hope for home fans was the early finish of the ODI in Bristol, meaning Crawley should at least get a reasonable night’s sleep if he’s asked to open tomorrow.

Lancashire’s Josh Bohannon said: “That one felt good. Having had a couple of weeks I’d missed out well it’s a nice way to finish off in the last game. There were obviously good balls there but it was a good pitch and if they missed you felt like you could score. I enjoyed batting out there.

“I’d quite like another chance if we get one, but if that’s the last time I bat this season I think that sums up my season pretty well.

(On his season) “I suppose the only negative is that I’ve only had one Daddy (hundred) but it’s still nice to be ticking off those sorts of numbers.

(On being Division 1’s leading scorer) “As you say, stats are not really in my vocabulary because they change so fast , but if that’s the way it finishes, happy days. I’ve felt more consistent this year than I’ve ever felt and there are things that I’ve done in the winter that have contributed to that so it’s nice to see them rewarded.

(On England) “Everyone wants to play for the country. They’re the same old cliches, but if the chance comes then it comes, if it doesn’t there’s not much more I can do. I feel more ready now than I’ve ever felt. There are things that have happened in the past when things like that have got to me. It made a bit of a mess of my season last year so it’s nice to overcome that thought process I guess.

“Last year, with the volume of runs I got, you get a bit closer and it probably got to me whereas now I’m just enjoying my cricket and I’m doing as much as I can to score runs for Lancs.”

Kent’s Jack Leaning said: “I think in the context of the day we’re pretty happy with that. We were going to have a bat this morning as well, it looked a pretty good wicket. The boys set the tone nicely with the ball this morning but naturally good players like Bohannon are going to score runs if they play well.

“We stuck at it throughout the day and they had a couple of partnerships, but to get them out for 327 and get the last wicket at the end of the day was a nice effort. I think it was a good wicket and it was starting to deteriorate and take a little bit of spin, so hopefully we can exploit that when we come to bowl again in the second innings.

“I thought Yuzi bowled really, really well. You saw today the skill level and the class that he’s got, to vary his pace, whether he’s bowling wrong’uns and sliders he’s just a joy to watch from slip and he was really well accompanied by Nijjar at the other end.

(Does he have to keep morale up during long partnerships?) “A little bit. I’d like to think that the state of the season and the game itself would be enough that people would want to get up and about and do what they can to win the game but naturally there’s times when the game goes a little bit dead and meanders along, so it’s my job to keep everyone going.

(On Harry Finch) “He’s gone from strength to strength this year. If you saw him keep today and then said that he’s only been keeping properly for 12 months you’d laugh. It’s ridiculous. He’s put in a hell of a lot of hard work here with his keeping and he looks like somebody who is going to go from strength to strength with the confidence he gains. If someone like Foakesey had taken the catch he took today it would have been all over social media and people would have been waxing lyrical so I hope he gets the same recognition tonight and can sit there and admire his work.”