Lancashire 227 for 4 (Hurst 55, Bohannon 47, Harris 47) beat Kent 223 (Bell-Drummond 56, Stanley 3-43) by six wickets

Wicketkeeper-batter Hurst, a Lion in the 2024-25 winter, was similarly determined in setting up Lancashire’s chase with 55 off 89 balls, including only two boundaries. Australian overseas Marcus Harris and Rocky Flintoff then helped finish things off with more expansive innings of 47 and 37 not out. Lancashire have now won two and lost one in Group A, while Kent have lost two and won one.

On a pitch showing signs of uneven bounce, Kent largely chipped away at the runs, though did elevate Grant Stewart to No. 6 to attack, which he did for 22.

The first three wickets all fell with batters looking suspiciously at the pitch, including Stanley claiming a superb one-handed return catch diving forwards after one popped at Sam Northeast.

Stanley’s trio of scalps was supplemented by two each for fellow seamers Tom Bailey, Jack Blatherwick and George Balderson.

Bailey bowled the very first ball in a competitive fixture at this ground, which is a stone’s throw from his birth city of Preston. It was actually a wide to Ben Dawkins – one of 17. Extras totalling 26 was the third top score in the Kent innings.

While Bell-Drummond played with great skill, Harry Finch, Stewart and Jaydn Denly all added useful scores in the 20s. Keith Dudgeon bettered them with an unbeaten 31 off 25 to give Kent a late boost.

Lancashire made an understandably watchful start to their chase, Keaton Jennings adding 44 with Hurst before being trapped lbw by Ekansh Singh’s seam in his first over, the 11th of the innings.

The home bowlers certainly extracted more out of the pitch. But, even so, boundaries were at a premium in front of a limited sold-out crowd of 2000 as part of the venue’s testing phase.

Hurst shared 79 for the second wicket with Josh Bohannon, who contributed 47 like Harris before edging a rising delivery from South African seamer Dudgeon behind – 123 for 2 in the 31st over.

Hurst reached his fifty off 84 balls shortly afterwards with only one boundary included, a cover drive against the legspin of ex-Lancashire spinner Matt Parkinson. He hit another boundary before drilling Stewart’s seam to mid-off with 147 on the board in the 36th over.

Lancashire needed 51 off 10 overs, with fourth-wicket duo Harris and Flintoff together. And that was the time for controlled acceleration, the pair sharing 69 before the former was stumped off Denly’s spin with the victory line in sight, as Lancashire won with 13 balls remaining.