Kent edge run-fest

Martin van Jaarsveld scored his third hundred so far in all competitons this season

Centuries from Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens, and then some brilliant bowling from Azhar Mahmood gave Kent a 17-run victory in a thrilling Friends Provident Trophy clash with Surrey at Canterbury.

A limited-overs best from Surrey captain Mark Butcher had steered the Brown Caps to within sight of an unlikely victory but the return of Azhar (4-40) at the death saw the visitors collapse from 293 for three to 320 all out.

Kent had scored a massive 337 for three, thanks to an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 216 between van Jaarsveld (113) and Stevens (119).

The dismissal of Butcher for 139 started the collapse when he was bowled by Yasir Arafat, but with Alistair Brown and Jonathan Batty still at the crease the visitors still looked favourites.

However, Batty was deceived by a slower ball from Azhar and then Brown (38) missed a straight one with 31 runs still needed.

Matt Nicholson was beaten by an Azhar yorker and Neil Saker looped a catch to Robert Key for one.

Dernbach quickly followed for a duck and the innings was wrapped up in the final over when Chris Jordan was caught at long-on, giving Azhar his fourth wicket.

Earlier, Butcher had shared a third-wicket stand of 126 with Usman Afzaal but the latter mistimed a pull and was caught at deep square for 74.

The pair came to the crease with the score on 91 for two after the Brown Caps had lost the wickets of James Benning (23) and Mark Ramprakash (10).

Mark Butcher's 139 - his best ever innings in one-day cricket - was not enough for Surrey

Benning was beaten by the low bounce and then Ramprakash fell looking to force through the leg-side, with Ryan McLaren picking up both wickets.

Stevens had earlier finished unbeaten on 119 from just 77 balls with ten fours and four sixes, with van Jaarsveld completing his third century of the season, undefeated on 113.

Having been put into bat, Kent were soon into their stride with openers Robert Key and Joe Denly taking advantage of some poor bowling as the pair raced to an opening stand of 67 before Chris Jordan took the first wicket with his first ball.

Key (34), fresh from captaining England Lions last week looked to chip the youngster over square leg but could only watch as Mark Ramprakash stooped to take a well-judged catch inside the boundary.

As often happens, Denly followed soon after, four runs short of his half-century, when he was beaten by the pace from Jordan and his middle stump was uprooted.

Justin Kemp didn’t last too long as he was dismissed with the score on 121, in the 26th over. The South African looked to steer the ball to third man but only succeeded in chopping the ball onto his stumps for six runs to give Jordan his third wicket.

This brought Stevens to the crease and along with van Jaarsveld the pair set about the Surrey attack, smashing anything loose to the boundary with Dernbach going for 85 runs from his 10 overs, alongside figures of 0-79 for Neil Saker and 0-76 from Murtaza Hussain.