Josh Bohannon and Luke Wells put on a record stand of 312 for Lancashire as they pummelled Kent on day two of their Vitality County Championship game at Canterbury.

Bohannon was unbeaten on 182 while Wells hit exactly 150 as the visitors closed on 402 for four, a first-innings lead of 158.

Lancashire batted through two full sessions without losing a wicket before Kent finally took a mini-cluster after tea. Beyers Swanepoel had their best figures with two for 61.

The crowd for the second day of the Canterbury Festival was swelled to 3,414 by around 1,600 school children from 44 schools, attending as part of a county initiative.

They all witnessed a horrorshow first session, with Wells and Bohannon battering a callow bowling attack.

Lancashire resumed on 38 for one and the closest Kent came to a wicket was when Wells lofted O’Riordan to mid-off and Jas Singh couldn’t reel him in.

Their only international-class bowler, Matt Parkinson, wasn’t used until the final over of the morning and by then the game seemed to have drifted away from the hosts. It was 168 for one at lunch, after which the batters enjoyed a race to three figures, which Bohannon won when he cut George Garrett for four through backward point.

Wells reached the landmark in less satisfying fashion, swishing Parkinson through the vacant slip cordon for two, but they soon overtook the biggest stand for any wicket between these two sides, eclipsing the 229 between Rob Key and Ed Smith at Tunbridge Wells in 2004 and taking Lancashire to 305 for one at tea.

It was tough for the home crowd: temperatures were so hot some of the natives in the supporters’ marquee even removed their blazers and midway through the afternoon a member on the Old Dover Road side of the ground was startled when several male voices went up in unison. “That’s an appeal,” his companion reassured him. “I think we had one this morning as well.”

The CAMRA tent was by now doing some serious business, presumably because it was selling the easiest way for the Kent fans to cope, although the evening session at least offered a sliver of hope. Wells swept his way to 150, steering Parkinson for two, but he finally fell in the 84th over, caught off Marcus O’Riordan at first slip by Charlie Stobo.

Stobo got his maiden championship wicket when George Bell dragged a leg-side delivery on to his off-stump off the back of his bat, and having sat on a balcony for six hours, George Lavelle got a golden duck, edging Beyers Swanepoel to O’Riordan, who took a head-high catch at second slip.

This mini-collapsed stemmed the flow of runs, but Bohannon was dropped off the luckless Singh in the penultimate over and he and Matty Hurst batted through to leave Lancashire in a dominant position at the end of day two.

Kent’s Charlie Stobo said: “It was a long day yeah, on an increasingly placid wicket. I thought we actually toiled pretty well on the whole. There were a few periods where the game could have got away from us pretty quickly but again I think we kind of stuck at it and aside from a few loose balls there were good signs.

“Going into the game we realised they were the two (Wells and Bohannon) who are experienced and the two players who were key in the batting line-up. They were batted with beautiful tempo and didn’t really seem to take too many risks. Whatever we threw at them they dealt with really well so yeah, I think they batted beautifully.

“There was a little bit of consolation at the end of the day and hopefully it’ll give us a bit of momentum that we can bring into tomorrow. I think the first hour’s always important on a new day so few wickets in the afternoon was a nice reward for a lot of toil.

“It seemed like there were a few balls throughout he day that did kind of jump through and conversely a lot kind o shot through so there’s a bit of variable bounce there but I think as everyone says on a cricket field one brings to, so being able to break a big partnership like that and get a few back to back was a nice reward.”

Lancashire’s Luke Wells said: “It was obviously very pleasing. I think myself and Bosh haven’t really got the runs we wanted to in the red ball campaign so to get out there and make the most of the opportunity on a good surface, with the sun out, putting on a big 300 partnership together was obviously really pleasing. It was a good day.

“T20 is obviously a very different game but it did allow us to free up. You’re less concerned about losing your wicket so there’s less pressure in that regard but having said that spending some quality time in the middle after the smack bang of T20 was really nice as well.

“I was gutted to get out because I wanted to be not out at the end of the day with Boshie there but I think going back to when you haven’t got the runs you wanted, you remember the times when the ball’s been seaming all over the place, you’re playing under lights or you’ve played a poor shot and haven’t made the most of an opportunity so when things are in your favour you you remind yourself that you’ve really got to fill your boots.

“You remind yourself of that when you’re out in the middle. It keeps you honest and keeps you motivated and more disciplined. You’ve really got make hay when the sun shines and luckily we wear able to do that today.”

Josh Bohannon said: “I’ll just echo what Wellsie said, it’s obviously been a frustrating campaign for ourselves and we expect more than what we’ve done so far but the hard work we’ve put in over the last few means it’s really pleasing to get the results we have today.

“It’s just going back to our basics again. It’s nice to have the freedom to go for sixes (in T20) but it’s going back to trying to hit the ball nice and straight again and you know you can build a massive partnership. I had really good fun today.

“To be fair I’m normally quite laid back in the middle. I’m sort of in my own little zone, I just felt like with the way the red ball campaign’s gone that I had that extra little bit of motivation for this game and we’ve batted together a lot over the last few years and we know each other’s game really well It was great fun just to be out there in the sun and out the partnership on.”