KENT recorded their first Liverpool Victoria Championship win of the season on home soil following a successful final day run chase over injury-hit Warwickshire in Tunbridge Wells.

The emphatic nine-wickets victory margin, secured with 13 overs to spare coupled with the fact that Kent move into the top half of Division 1 masks that for three days this was a closely fought affair that, even up to the final afternoon, might have gone either way.

Set to chase 196 for victory from a minimum of 79 overs, Kent were fortunate in as much that would get to bat in the best conditions of the match.

Added to which, The Nevill pitch had fully dried out and the opposition were without both their overseas bowlers in Heath Streak and Daniel Vettori. In short, they were a team for the taking.

Even so, the incredibly slow wicket made scoring at any rate above three an over quite difficult, so it seemed certain this would be a war of attrition rather than a victory charge.

Cutting their cloth accordingly, skipper Rob Key and his predecessor and opening partner David Fulton took a low risk strategy at first, working singles and twos, and never daring to loft the ball - preferring instead to wait for the occasional bad delivery.

In a thoroughly professional opening stand they added 84 inside 31 overs before Fulton took his first risk, sweeping off the stumps against Alex Loudon, he was bowled for 31 from 99 balls.

Key ground his way on, clipping just four fours in a painstaking half-century that took two hours and 24 minutes to make.

His second wicket partner Martin van Jaarsveld may have gone early on, but he rode his luck to play a pivotal role.

The Kolpak signing was dropped at leg gully when on nought and edged one near to slip three runs later, but he too dug in to make it through to tea on 21 and leave the hosts requiring a further 69 from the 30 overs remaining.

Refreshed and re-focussed after the interval, Key and van Jaarsveld pushed on after the break as Loudon, with only four fit full-time bowlers, simply ran out of containing options.

With singles available on both sides of the stumps, the pair milked the situation superbly with a match-winning stand of 113 in 35 overs that lifted the pressure and left Warwickshire squabbling amongst themselves.

Van Jaarsveld went past 50 for the sixth time in the process and hit the winning runs with a straight driven boundary that left him unbeaten on 57, while Key eased to a season’s best 98 not out from 169 balls and with eight fours.

Earlier on the final day Kent required a further 15 overs to take the last three Warwickshire wickets and polish off the innings to set up their run chase.

A stubborn eighth wicket stand of 43 in 18 overs between Dougie Brown and Tony Frost, Warwickshire’s top-run scorer in the game, ended when Key introduced Min Patel at the Pavilion End for his first bowl of the day.

With only his fifth delivery Patel beat the edge of Brown’s horizontal bat as he attempted to sweep but, in dragging his back foot, Brown allowed Niall O’Brien to whip off the bails and complete the stumping.

Three overs later James Tredwell got in on the act with his fourth wicket of the innings as one lifted and turned to graze the bat of James Anyon for van Jaarsveld to pocket a sharp low chance at slip.

Patel completed the task, pegging back the off stump of last man Lee Daggett with a quickly turning delivery that moved from outside leg stump.

It gave Kent the best part of two and a half sessions to chase their target, a task that proved well within their grasp.

SCORECARD

Warwickshire first innings

N V Knight c Hall b Khan 0
M A Waugh b Tredwell 48
I R Bell b Hall 20
I J Trott b Hall 0
A G R Loudon c van Jaarsveld b Khan 11
J O Troughton lbw b Patel 29
D R Brown b Kemp 10
T Frost not out 66
N M Carter c Key b Patel 27
J E Anyon c Walker b Patel 2
L Daggett b Hall 7

Extras 17

Total 237 all out after 100.2 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-4, 2-40, 3-40, 4-72, 5-84, 6-109, 7-151, 8-181, 9-185.

Bowling: Khan 20-5-43-2, Hall 18.2-7-43-2, Stevens 4-0-17-0, Patel 20-6-48-3, Kemp 9-1-25-1, Tredwell 29-8-51-1.

Kent first innings

R W T Key b Daggett 12
D P Fulton c Trott b Brown 10
M van Jaarsveld c Troughton b Daggett 9
M J Walker c Frost b Daggett 55
D I Stevens c Knight b Daggett 24
J M Kemp c Knight b Brown 28
A J Hall b Carter 27
N J O’Brien not out 26
M M Patel c Frost b Carter 0
J C Tredwell lbw b Brown 10
A Khan lbw b Brown 0

Extras 31

Total 234 all out after 91.5 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-22, 2-22, 3-42, 4-101, 5-155, 6-171, 7-200, 8-204, 9-234.

Bowling: Brown 27.5-11-45-4, Daggett 24-6-81-4, Loudon 10-4-13-0, Anyon 15-4-35-0, Carter 15-3-46-2.

Warwickshire second innings

N M Carter c O’Brien b Hall 6
M A Wagh run out (Khan) 8
N V Knight lbw b Tredwell 24
I R Bell c O’Brien b Hall 8
I J Trott b Tredwell 40
A G R Loudon lbw b Tredwell 0
J O Troughton c Stevens b Patel 22
D R Brown st O’Brien b Patel 38
T Frost not out 34
J E Anyon c van Jaarsveld b Tredwell 1
L Daggett b Patel 3

Extras 8

Total 192 all out after 77.3 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-7, 2-26, 3-35, 4-80, 5-84, 6-95, 7-129, 8-172, 9-177.

Bowling: Khan 7-2-29-0, Hall 10-1-19-2, Patel 28.3-5-68-3, Kemp 4-1-8-0, Tredwell 28-6-61-4.

Kent second innings

R W T Key not out 98
D P Fulton b Loudon 31
M van Jaarsveld not out 57

Extras 11

Total 197 for one after 65.5.overs

Fall of wicket: 1-84,

Bowling: Brown 9-2-21-0, Daggett 3-0-14-0, Loudon 22-3-63-1, Troughton 12-2-38-0, Anyon 9.5-2-26-0, Carter 10-2-30-0.

Bonus points: Kent 18pts Warwickshire 4pts.