Kent's hopes of a place in the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup hang in the balance after a 51-run defeat at home to Lancashire on Saturday.

The 164th Canterbury Cricket Week finished on a low note as the hosts collapsed with the bat after a bright start, giving the visitors an edge to take into their next game, next Saturday's T20 quarter-final back at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence,

Matt Coles was the star with the ball, claiming a superb 4/34 from 10 tight overs as the Lightning were restricted to 258/9 from 50 overs, however Kent were made to pay for losing wickets at regular intervals in the reply and were eventually dismissed for 207, despite a superb late cameo from Alex Blake, who made a career-best 89 from 56 balls long after the game looked up.

Kent could need to win their final two games, away at unbeaten Group B leaders Notts and at Warwickshire, who are level on points with the Spitfires having played one game fewer, to qualify for the last eight in the longer white-ball competition.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, the hosts made a blistering start with Ashwell Prince (4) edging Coles to slip to make it 7/1 from 3.4 overs.

Coles collected his second two balls into his next over, Karl Brown (1) nicking one to Sam Billings to make it 8/2.

It was 26/3 when Alviro Peterson (10) was caught by Billings off Matt Hunn but Steven Croft and Liam Livingstone steadied the ship with a 22-over stand which yielded 108 runs.

Livingstone led the fireworks but Croft provided a useful support role with three boundaries in his 82-ball half-century.

He eventually found the superbly safe hands of Stevens off Hunn after amassing 55, though Livingstone was joined by Alex Davies for a 68-run blast in eight overs.

After clubbing six fours and clearing the ropes three times in an 87-ball stay, Livingstone was just nine runs shy of a century when he sent one straight back at Stevens who completed the caught-and-bowled and leave the visitors 206/5 with 10 overs remaining.

James Faulkner (4) didn't linger before being trapped by Coles and Davies looked the Lightning's only hope of getting close to 300 but despite finding the boundary nine times, he holed-out to the scampering Fabian Cowdrey in the deep to depart for a 38-ball 57.

At 231/7 with less than six overs remaining Lancs had to go for it and Stephen Parry (2) flashed at one from Coles and was caught by Billings while Jordan Clark slapped Mitch Claydon straight down the ground, only to be caught just inside the ropes by Coles to make it 248/9 with 11 balls to come, which saw 10 more runs added to the tally.

The visitors piled on the pressure at the start of the reply with Kyle Jarvis looking dangerous and in just his second over Joe Denly slashed at one which nicked the edge on the way through to Croft in the slips for a nine-ball duck.

Croft put down a chance to send Northeast packing on 16 after a bright start in the middle but Bell-Drummond was undone by the pace of Jordan Clark after a 46-ball stay which yielded 30, bringing to an end a tidy 53 run stand and leave the hosts 59/2 in the 15th over.

Sam Billings joined Northeast but lasted just eight balls before he was caught by the diving Croft off the left-arm spin bowling of Parry with the score on 79 and Northeast followed him for 36 soon after edging Clark to Davies.

87/4 became 87/5 as Fabian Cowdrey was run-out in calamitous fashion without scoring from the very next ball, while Darren Stevens (2) slammed one low but straight at Peterson who took a smart catch off Parry to leave the hosts reeling on 95/6 with nearly 27 overs remaining.

Coles joined Blake to see the hosts into three-figures but the paceman was caught in the deep by Jarvis off Faulkner for 10 with the scoreboard showing 119.

Blake amassed an eye-catching 31 and shared 24 with James Tredwell in five overs but the spinner was run-out from long range for nine to leave the hosts 143/8.

Blake teed-off and was inches away from three consecutive sixes, taking 16 off the first three balls of a Parry over, however Claydon (1) was caught by the spinner two balls later to leave Kent 162/9.

Blake's cameo featured another mighty six which saw his side reach 172/9 with 15 overs to come and he cleared the ropes again as he and Matt Hunn took 16 from the following over.

He matched his career-best of 81 from 51 balls with another maximum which threatened the windows of the Les Ames stand and then hit his seventh onto the balcony above the Lime Tree Cafe to take Kent past 200 but he was eventually bowled by Faulkner as the hosts lost with more than 12 overs remaining.