Harry Finch admits he relished the chance to bat higher up the order for Kent Spitfires.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Finch, 29, made his first List A century for Kent in a 183-run partnership with Spitfires’ Metro Bank One-Day Cup captain Jack Leaning against Durham at Canterbury before he departed for 104 off 91 balls on Sunday.

But Kent’s chances of progressing to the knockout stages of the 50-over competition were ended as they slipped from 223-3 when Finch departed to 294-9 during their seven-run home defeat.

Finch, promoted to No.4, said: “Obviously, there was a bit of a change of position for me on Sunday.

“I’m definitely someone who prefers batting in the top four so I was jumping at the chance to bat a bit higher up and, obviously, I managed to take that chance.

“It’s just pretty disappointing overall. Basically, we pretty much had the game won there - I think it got down to five-an-over at one point.

“But credit to them. They adapted well and started to bowl spin.

“It certainly wasn’t easy to start against spin.

“We’ll just learn. We’re disappointed because we cannot qualify now (for the knockout stages) but we have actually played some pretty good cricket in this competition and we’ll just try to keep learning, really.”

Finch’s superb knock against Durham included 13 boundaries and one six.

“I’m happy on a personal level,” he said. “But also, I’m pretty annoyed at those last 10 overs, if I’m being perfectly honest, and the fact we have lost the game.

“I think that’s where we need to get better as a group.

“When you’re on top like that, you cannot let them back in. I know it was difficult out there but we, collectively, have got to be better and we have got to bat better.

“We haven’t batted well enough this whole competition and we have just got to be honest about that.

“At times, we haven’t set the game up well enough and then we’ve batted brilliantly at the back-end. Then, on Sunday, we had the game set up and didn’t bat well enough at the end.

“I’m pleased with how I played. I feel like I’ve been playing well.

“Obviously, I hadn’t got runs in the two games before Sunday but I feel like my game is in a really good space and that was waiting to happen.”

Finch’s sole maximum came as he brought up his century in emphatic fashion with a big straight hit off the spin of Scott Borthwick.

But he explained: “I think that’s when I bat at my best when I’m not really thinking about my score, I’m thinking more about the team’s score.

“For me, that was just an option. He had mid-on up because, obviously, they know I’m better at sweeping and stuff.

“I went two (boundaries) in a row - a four and then a six - and it was quite cool, doing that!

“But it was just the right option.”

Kent end their 50-over Group A campaign against Northamptonshire at Canterbury on Wednesday.