A dramatic final day of the LV= Insurance County Championship summer saw Kent secure Division 1 survival on Friday - thanks to a helping hand from Nottinghamshire.

While Kent were unable to force a win as they drew with Lancashire, they were left requiring Nottinghamshire needing to avoid defeat against fellow strugglers Middlesex - and the hosts inched to a narrow victory at Trent Bridge to relegate Middlesex.

Any hopes Kent had of forcing a win at Canterbury initially looked pretty remote as away openers Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells continued to stick around.

A boundary from Wells brought the scores level and, in the next over, another Wells four off Kent captain Jack Leaning (3-64) brought up his century in 176 balls.

With Middlesex aiming to force a result against Nottinghamshire which potentially would consign Kent to relegation, Leaning finally got the sorely-needed breakthrough.

He had Wells caught by Daniel Bell-Drummond - included in the PCA men’s team-of-the-year - for a fine 117 as Middlesex also lost their fourth wicket at virtually the exact same time.

The same Kent combination dismissed Jennings for 74 to leave Lancashire 197-2 - 30 runs ahead. All of a sudden, the atmosphere changed, Steven Croft dropped by Tawanda Muyeye off Leaning from his first ball.

But George Bell was caught behind for one from Aron Nijjar’s bowling (3-97), the third wicket in 14 balls.

Leaning claimed his third and Kent’s fourth wicket when George Balderson was caught for one by a diving Ben Compton.

The dismissal of 38-year-old Croft for 15, Bell-Drummond taking another catch off Nijjar, brought an early lunch with Lancashire 226-5 - still only 59 runs ahead.

Matty Hurst was the next to go for a nine-ball duck in the early stages of the afternoon session. He attempted to send Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2-70) over the top but picked out Nathan Gilchrist at mid-off.

Chahal got his second scalp of the innings when Tom Hartley slog-swept to Compton in the leg-side for 18 from 19 balls.

Kent took the second new ball shortly after 2pm, Lancashire having moved to 278-7.

But Josh Bohannon and Tom Bailey dug in well at this stage and their eighth-wicket stand was worth 42 runs as the latter pulled Gilchrist (0-49) to the ropes to get them to the 300-run mark.

Chahal shelled a tricky caught-and-bowled chance when Bohannon was on 37 and Bailey appeared to be dropped by wicketkeeper Harry Finch from a Joey Evison (0-38) bouncer shortly after, with overs left in the day running out.

A single off Leaning’s bowling brought up a half-century for Bailey in 100 balls and Lancashire were 344-7 at tea.

Bohannon followed suit just after the interval, getting to his own 50 as the match dwindled tamely towards a draw.

The partnership was worth 124 runs when Bailey, with his new high score of 78, sliced Nijjar to Gilchrist.

By this point, Kent had tried just about everything - Muyeye (0-12) and Compton (0-2) introduced to the attack - but they both finished wicket-less and the teams shook hands with the visitors 390-8. Bohannon was unbeaten on 68 and Jack Blatherwick (2 not out) also remained.

That wasn’t the end of the drama, however, with Kent’s chances of survival riding on Nottinghamshire not being defeated by Middlesex.

That led to an agonising passage of more than an hour in Canterbury but Nottinghamshire scrambled their way to 210-8 at the end of a nerve-jangling day.

Kent head coach Matt Walker said: “It wasn’t a great two hours of our lives, watching that unfold.

“It’s out of your control, isn’t it? It’s completely out your hands. It’s the worst part of your job, there’s nothing you can do about it – apart from sit and watch, [and] keep your fingers crossed.

“We gave it a really good go this week. We thought we would need to win one of those [last] three games. As it turned out, we didn’t need to win any.

“There were two really good performances to get enough points to get our noses ahead going into this week. We knew, when we matched their bonus points, that certainly made it more difficult.

“They [Middlesex] had to go and win the game. Fair play to them, they gave it a good go and may have deserved a bit better.

“But we’re glad of that back-end resistance from Notts.

“We saw it a couple of weeks ago from Brett Hutton. It was painful at the time but I’m glad he continued that form in that innings.

“I suppose relief is the over-riding emotion.

“It’s hard to be too jubilant. We have just hung on and stayed up but, from where we were a few weeks ago, that was the job. We have done it.

“Now, we can breathe and go away and have some time off to reflect on the season, as we usually do, knowing that we have got Division 1 cricket next year.”

Walker’s relief was shared by Kent red-ball captain Leaning and Bell-Drummond.

“There was probably just a little bit of relief – if anything,” reflected 29-year-old Leaning.

“I couldn’t really bring myself to watch it.

“I hate the unknown! I can deal with the good and the bad but that bit in between is pretty shambolic. I hate it.

“Luckily, Notts did ourselves a little bit of a favour and I think we did ourselves some favours over the last three games to pick up the points we needed.

“Ultimately, we kept ourselves up. It’s not just what Notts did today – it’s us over the course of the season.

“Yes, we don’t want to be fighting down the bottom-end next season so, hopefully, we can build on that.

“But we’re in Division 1 next year and have got the opportunity to start afresh.”

Bell-Drummond added: “I’m very relieved, to be honest. That’s the word that springs to mind.

“Obviously, it’s been a long, tough, season and we’re just happy that we can be in Division 1 going forwards.

“We have got a lot to learn from, for sure, but we’re very grateful we’re not in Division 2.”

Kent ended the 2023 season on 111 points, seven points clear of second-bottom Middlesex.