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Kent's over-60 cricketers win national championship after 13-run victory over Cheshire Cricket Board at Lutterworth

Kent's over-60s held their nerve to win the national championship for the second time in four years.

The county lifted the title they last won in 2013 with a 13-run victory over the Cheshire Cricket Board at Lutterworth in Leicestershire.

The game looked well balanced when Cheshire reached 182-6 chasing Kent's 45-over total of 203-7, but Blackheath's Chris Swadkin (4-25 in 5.5 overs) and Betteshanger's Derek Towe (3-26 in eight) initiated a collapse which saw the Northerners dismissed for 190 with a ball to spare.

Kent's triumphant over-60s team after their victory at Lutterworth
Kent's triumphant over-60s team after their victory at Lutterworth

Man-of-the-match Chris Tarrant (Old Colfeians) had top scored for Kent, hitting 84 from 113 balls with 11 fours and a six. He added 90 for the second wicket with Beckenham's Andrew Dixon (27) and 78 for the third with Upchurch batsman Jim Phillips, who went onto make 64 from 50 deliveries with eight boundaries.

Cheshire - champions three times in the past five years - reached 65-3 in reply before Bernie Bishop (54) and Colin Norbury (47) added 91.

Colin Breed (Staplehurst) made the breakthrough, having Bishop stumped by Graham Brown (St Lawrence & Highland Court), after which Swadkin and Towe finished the job.

Kent had finished runners-up to Surrey in their group before beating Norfolk, in the last 16, Hertfordshire in the quarter-finals, and Yorkshire, in the semis.

Dixon (82 not out), Towe (44) and Swadkin (43) were the chief contributors to Kent's 228-3 against Yorkshire, who closed on 208-6 in reply.

Tony Mitchell (Canterbury) and Terry Edwards (City of London) both picked up two wickets while Phillips took 1-20 in nine overs and Rupert Staple (Blackheath) 1-23 in nine.

The win was particularly sweet as Yorkshire had eliminated Kent in each of the past two years.

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