LANCASHIRE are still in contention for their first Championship since 1950.

They stayed in touch with Surrey by completing a 154-run victory over Kent on Saturday, with Chris Schofield making a welcome return to form with an unbeaten half century followed by four wickets.

And Lancashire could now go joint top by taking maximum points from their next game against Leicestershire at Grace Road which starts tomorrow.

Surrey and Yorkshire, who stay second two points ahead of Lancashire after their rain-ruined draw at Leicester, do not have a game this week before they play each other at next Wednesday.

Then Lancashire play Somerset at home, while Surrey will expect to beat Durham at the Oval, before the Londoners come to Old Trafford in the last match of the season.

"The chase is still on," said Lancashire captain John Crawley.

"It's not a one-horse race as some have suggested. Surrey still have a difficult game at Yorkshire and we have just got to narrow the gap before we play them at Old Trafford."

Whatever the outcome of the title race, Lancashire desperately needed to beat Kent to bounce back from last week's one-day disappointments.

And they responded in impressive fashion with Peter Martin's return a crucial factor, and Neil Fairbrother twice digging them out of trouble after batting collapses.

But Schofield was the key figure on Saturday, first adding a precious 88 for the remaining three second inning wickets with good support from Gary Keedy, Mike Smethurst and especially Martin, who had asked to drop down the order because his thumb was still causing him trouble, but contributed 27 in a half century last wicket stand.

Martin and Smethurst then made early inroads into Kent's second innings before Schofield and Keedy took over.

Keedy continued his consistent season with a typically tight spell, claiming 3-13 from 16 overs in his first Championship match as a capped player to stay on course for his best-ever wicket-taking summer -- he now has 32.

At the other end Schofield at last looked to have regained his confidence after his shabby treatment by England earlier in the year, earning 4-25.

Lancashire now face a tricky selection decision for Leicester, where the pitch does not usually favour the spinners. Glen Chapple is likely to return, but the question is will Schofield, Keedy or maybe Joe Scuderi miss out? LANCASHIRE

C Schofield not out ... 70

G Keedy c Fulton b Patel ... 17

M Smethurst b Saggers ... 2

P Martin c Saggers b McCague ... 27

Extras ... 14

Total (all out) ... 198

Bowling: Saggers 14-3-47-2; Masters 15-3-49-3; McCague 12.4-2-29-3; Patel 25-7-47-1; Dravid 6-1-11-0; Walker 4-0-9-1

KENT

D Fulton c Fairbrother b Smethurst ... 1

R Key run out ... 15

R Dravid lbw Martin ... 6

E Smith lbw Keedy ... 15

M Walker st Hegg b Schofield ... 16

A Wells b Schofield ... 8

P Nixon lbw Keedy ... 10

M McCague c Hegg b Schofield ... 0

M Patel c Martin b Schofield ... 35

M Saggers lbw Keedy ... 2

D Masters not out ... 0

Extras ... 17

Total (all out) ... 125

Bowling: Martin 11-3-18-1; Semthurst 11-2-36-1; Keedy 16-9-13-3; Flintoff 9-0-20-0; Schofield 11.4-4-25-4