Kent finish top of Twenty20 Cup group
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Ryan McLaren hit an unbeaten 18 before
taking 4-37 Picture: Barry Goodwin
by Kevin Redsull
Kent secured first place in the Twenty20 Cup
South Division, and with it a home tie against Durham in the
quarter-finals, with a 16-run success over Surrey at Beckenham on
Sunday.
Against a Surrey side who decided to rest
several players including captain Mark Butcher and Mark
Ramprakash, Kent were given a flying start by Joe Denly who hit 19
off 17 balls.
After skipper Rob Key had departed for 17,
Martin van Jaarsveld (64) and Geraint Jones (47) kept up the
momentum with a third-wicket stand of 96 in nine overs, Kent's
second highest partnership in this season's Twenty20
campaign.
The Spitfires looked on course to reach
a target approaching 200 but Surrey hit back through
off-spinner Matthew Spriegel as Darren Stevens (7), Justin Kemp (1)
and Azhar Mahmood (3) all departed quickly.
Kent eventually finished on 184-7 thanks to
an unbeaten 18 off 10 balls by Ryan McLaren and the South
African all-rounder then made his mark with the ball, taking 4-37
as the inexperienced Surrey batting line-up made a decent fist of
their run chase.
McLaren opened his account by having Chris
Jordan caught at mid-off and then Michael Brown skied an Azhar
Mahmood slower ball to James Tredwell at mid-on.
Chris Murtagh was run out
for 28 by van Jaarsveld’s direct hit and Grant Elliott
was caught by a diving Justin Kemp at long-on
off the bowling of Simon Cook.
With the asking rate up to 11 an over, the
Surrey tail then perished in a desperate late quest for
late runs as Kent wrapped up their seventh qualifying win in
front of a crowd of nearly 6,000.
Monday, June 29 2009
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