Kent Spitfires chased down a world record 40-over total to stun Sussex Sharks by three wickets in Yorkshire Bank 40 Group A on Wednesday night.

Set a mammoth 337 to win, Darren Stevens stole the show for the hosts with a stunning 44-ball century, eventually departing on 118 from 53 balls.

The veteran all-rounder put on 159 for the third wicket with Sam Northeast, who amassed his maiden List A century in a slightly more patient 90 balls to help steer the home side towards the line at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, before eventually being stumped on 115.

Rob Key had earlier raced to 52 before mistiming one off Chris Liddle following a 109-run opening stand with Northeast which saw Kent well ahead of the required run-rate of 8.41 an over.

Alex Blake was bumped up to number three with Brendan Nash struggling with a side strain but didn’t linger for his 14, though his departure signalled the introduction of Stevens, 37, who smashed 17 off one Will Beer over and 20 from another from Rory Hamilton-Brown.

Stevens’ fifty took just 24 balls and his second just 20 more as he equalled a club record set by Mark Ealham against Derbyshire at Maidstone in 1995.

After Stevens was caught at the rope by Matt Machan attempting his eighth six, Northeast got Kent within 14 runs of their target before his departure sparked a flurry of late wickets with Ben Harmison (1), Calum Haggett (0) and Mitchell Claydon (8) going quickly, despite Claydon’s first ball being smote for six.

A wide from Luke Wright took the Spitfires home with three wickets and nine balls to spare.

Earlier Wright had produced fireworks of his own as he scored 115, with his century coming from 54 balls – the fastest hundred of the county season until Stevens had his say.

Wright put on 194 in 18.3 overs for the opening wicket with Chris Nash before edging a cut off Haggett.

Nash made 83 in 53 balls before clipping a delivery from occasional spinner and namesake Brendan to Adam Riley and although the flow of runs was stemmed, the visitors used the good track and small boundary to their advantage to post 336-5, the highest 40 over total ever posted at Canterbury.

Haggett claimed the timely wicket of Michael Yardy (46) but his figures of 2-97 off 8 overs were the one Kent record of the day which hopefully won’t be remembered.

The previous highest 40-over second innings came in May 2010 when Unicorns stunned Sussex by reaching their target of 326 in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Arundel with three balls and six wickets remaining.