A RAPID half-century from Dwayne Bravo, an unbeaten 74 from Matt Walker and Rob Ferley’s four-wicket haul helped Kent to an emphatic 62-run win over an inexperienced Yorkshire side in Scarborough.

The Spitfires’ sixth-wicket partners rescued their side from a shaky start with a cracking stand of 74 inside 24 minutes as the visitors recovered from 80 for four to post a respectable 246 for six at North Marine Drive.

Having won the toss and elected to bat Kent, unchanged from the side that swept aside Derbyshire last weekend, soon lost out-of-sorts one-day opener Darren Stevens when he edged behind against young seamer Ajmal Shahzad.

The Huddersfield-born right-armer, the first British-born Asian to play for Yorkshire, proved a real handful early on and went on to account for Martin van Jaarsveld (38) and Tyron Henderson (16) in an eight-over stint of three for 30.

When Geraint Jones fell to another rookie Steven Henderson, having scored 17 off 31 fours, Kent appeared to be heading for trouble.

They rebuilt steadily as Rob Key and Walker doubled the score in readiness for a late onslaught. Key, whose wife Fleur is expecting their first child this week, contributed a cautious 36 from 64 balls before holing out to leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

Rashid caused Kent’s batsmen plenty of headaches during the corresponding championship match at Headingley last month and he again escaped punishment in a tidy spell of one for 34.

But once Bravo replaced Key, the whole context of Kent’s innings changed as the West Indies’ Test all-rounder revealed a bit of class for once.

Rebuked by Key last week for his poor form and approach, Bravo responded by clubbing a maiden league century from 27-balls that included five fours and three sixes into Scarborough’s banked terracing.

Walker joined in the fun with his first league 50 this season from 52 balls and went on to hit four boundaries and three sixes in an unbeaten 74 from 70 deliveries.

Yorkshire, without the injured Darren Lehmann, Craig White and Michael Vaughan, were always like to find the asking rate of 6.17 an over tough, and so it proved.

Tyron Henderson’s opening over disappeared for 12 runs, but Simon Cook hit a good line and length instantly and reined Yorkshire in.

By the time Henderson had Joe Sayers caught behind in the seventh over of the reply Phoenix were already 15 behind the rate and pressure was already beginning to tell.

Everything rested with Yorkshire’s only experienced batsmen Michael Lumb and acting skipper Anthony McGrath, who ordinarily fills his boots against Kent.

That was not the case here however, as McGrath clipped a catch to Neil Dexter off Cook to go for a turgid 15 from 26 balls.

Lumb teamed up with 22-year-old left-hander Andrew Gale to add 84 for the third wicket, but by the half-way point their asking rate had risen to eight an over.

The introduction of spin-twins James Tredwell and Rob Ferley bought added pressure to bear, and they combined to remove Lumb moments after his 59-ball half-century.

Going into the last 10 overs the hosts required rate had soared to 10 and though young Richard Pyrah cracked three sixes in his 32, he too fell to Tredwell.

A run later Gale was bowled by Ferley and Yorkshire’s slim victory hopes went with him as Kent’s left-armer went on to post career-best league figures of four for 33 to seal the win with 25 balls to spare.