Cricket: Lancs' debt to public; Third Day: Lancs, 107 and 288, beat Kent 233 and 92 by 70 runs.

Byline: BY PAUL EDWARDS 

AFTER Lancashire had achieved one of the best and most vital victories in their recent history, cricket manager Mike Watkinson paid tribute to the part played by the Merseyside public in yesterday's magnificent Aigburth fightback.

"I think we've got to recognise that the fantastic support we had at Liverpool was a great influence." said Watkinson.

"Right from ball one we had the feeling that everyone was right behind us."

Watkinson's comments accurately reflected the mounting excitement and joy on the great ground as Lancashire dismissed Kent for 92 in 37.5 overs to secure a 70-run win.

The Old Trafford players overturned a 126-run first innings deficit by exhibiting not only skill, but a fighting spirit.

Chief architect of the triumph was the ruddy-faced seamer Glen Chapple, who bowled unchanged from the Pavilion end and returned a season's best of six for 40 from a 19-over spell, interrupted only by lunch.

Yet this win does not mean that Lancashire are safe from relegation to Division Two of the County Championship.

Supporters must wait until the end of the current round of matches to discover exactly what Stuart Law's side requires from its final game at Somerset.

But the victory at Aigburth - Lancashire's first four-day success for over two months - was a huge boost to a team which included home-grown youngsters like Tom Smith, Oliver Newby and Karl Brown in preference to the experience of Dominic Cork and Lou Vincent.

It was Smith who claimed the last wicket and stifled the Kent batsmen's counter-attacking instincts with a spell of three for 28 from 13.5 overs. Yet for all the 22-year-old's excellence, when the story of this match is retold - and it should become a staple of bar-room chat throughout the county's cricket clubs - Chapple's bowling with the new ball will be given the place of honour.

Boosted by Oliver Newby's success in bowling Joe Denly in the second over, the 34-year-old seamer extracted plenty of bounce from the Aigburth pitch to have both Geraint Jones and Rob Key caught behind by Luke Sutton.

And when Darren Stevens fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Law at second slip, and Tom Smith had a looselydriving Justin Kemp taken by Francois du Plessis at backward point, Kent were on the rack at 30 for five.

Chapple claimed the wickets of Martin van Jaarsveld, Yasir Arafat and James Tredwell in six overs and it was left to Smith to conclude the match with two typically accurate deliveries.

In the first 11.5 overs of the morning Lancs' last three wickets could add only 31 runs, leaving the home side with a 162-run lead. It did not seem sufficient.

CAPTION(S):

Glen Chapple in action yesterday