England opener Zak Crawley scored a second half-century for Kent of this LV= Insurance County Championship match against Northamptonshire, providing a much-needed boost ahead of the first Test against New Zealand.

While the intensity and pace of the bowling did not match what Crawley can expect to face at Lord’s next month, Crawley’s form will still be welcome news for the new England management.

With little riding on the day as the game drifted towards a draw, Crawley settled for some time in the middle, sharing a 149-run opening stand with Ben Compton. He struck the ball cleanly and crisply and accumulated seven boundaries and a six on his way to 84, It followed his first innings of 62 and marks a return to form for the opener after a string of low scores saw many questioning his England selection.

Finally the two sides shook hands on the draw with Kent at 170 for one.

Northamptonshire started the day needing 23 more runs to avoid the threat of the follow-on. Matt Quinn and Darren Stevens kept things tight early on during a tense opening 20 minutes which saw Tom Taylor fall, caught at second slip, without a run being added in five overs.

Gareth Berg opted for the attacking option, taking the Steelbacks to the brink of safety by smoting George Linde for six over long-on while Lewis McManus, batting with an injured finger, posted a hugely valuable undefeated fifty, his second since joining Northamptonshire on loan this season.

Ben Sanderson freed his arms, unfurling a string of crunching cover drives in a last wicket stand with McManus worth 54 before Daniel Bell-Drummond ended the fun by knocking back Sanderson’s off-stump just before lunch.

After the interval, Crawley showed intent from the outset with a straight driven boundary off Sanderson. Northamptonshire’s opening bowlers though kept things tight and Crawley and Curran were content to play the ball on merit and leave well alone outside off.

Northamptonshire fluffed the chance of an early wicket when there was a mix-up between the batters, leaving Compton scrabbling to regain his ground, but both Luke Procter’s throw in from mid-on and sub keeper Harry Gouldstone’s shy at the stumps were both slightly wide.

Crawley got into the groove with two late cuts off Sanderson and Taylor and played some pleasant cover drives for three. He also displayed some aggression with a clubbed four over mid-off to Rob Keogh and a crunching extra cover drive off Emilio Gay. He used his feet to come down the track and hit Ben Curran’s slow bowling over long-on for six. One rare miss-hit came via an inside edge down to fine leg off Procter on 40 but he otherwise located the middle of the bat with ease and timed the ball sweetly.

At the other end Compton continued in the typically sedate fashion that has proved so productive for him this season before accelerating on his way to 68. He cut and drove handsomely, surviving one moment of danger when a thick outside edge off a ball from Keogh flew away for four.

After tea, Northamptonshire turned to their part-time bowlers to see out the remaining overs. Crawley’s innings ended finally after 138 balls when he hit Curran straight to long-on.

Kent and England opener Zak Crawley said: “I thought we played pretty well. The rain on the morning of day two kind of killed our chances of winning on a flat deck. But I thought we controlled the game and if we hadn’t lost half a day, maybe we could have had a crack at them today. But we didn’t have enough time.

“I’ve started to find a bit of rhythm, which is nice. I obviously haven’t scored the runs I wanted to, but I feel in good rhythm now. Obviously today, it was a bit easier than the first innings, but I still struck the ball nicely, so I feel good about my game.

“It’s always nice being picked for England and I can’t wait to get going with them. So, it fills me with a lot of energy, and maybe that’s why I got a couple of runs this week. I’m excited about Brendon McCullum coming in. I love watching him play and I’m sure I’m going to love working with him as a coach. So, I think he might suit me actually, quite a positive coach, so I look forward to seeing if that is the case. But he’s obviously a great character in the sport and I’m looking forward to it.

“If I time my form well and I score runs in Test cricket, that will mean an awful lot to me. That’s not to say I don’t want to score runs every time I go out to bat, and I’ve been disappointed that I haven’t been able to help Kent as much as I’d have wanted to this year. But everyone knows Test cricket is the pinnacle and if I can get a hundred in the next couple of weeks, that might put the last few weeks right.”

Northamptonshire batsman Josh Cobb said: “Kent didn’t make it easy [to avoid the follow on]. But once we did that, the game was almost dead and buried. We could have probably shaken hands there then and gone home, but great effort to get past it from us. But , it’s a long four days. We’re getting a good draw out of it. It puts us in a good state going into the T20s.

“Lewis McManus played exceptionally well, obviously struggling a bit with his finger, but I think he’ll be fine moving forward to the T20s.

“The most important thing for us in terms of the game was getting past the follow on, just almost kill the game. And we did that, so we’re pleased with that.”