KENT signed off from totesport League Division 1 with Tuesday night’s disappointing four-run defeat to Northamptonshire that clinched Steelbacks’ top-flight survival.

In front of a sizeable Canterbury crowd and the Sky Sports cameras, Spitfires’ run chase lost impetus in the closing overs to slide to their ninth defeat of a disappointing campaign that led to their first taste of relegation.

After the loss of skipper David Fulton in the fifth over of the reply, controversially adjudged caught at the wicket off Johann Louw, Kent re-built off the back of a well-paced partnership worth 68 in 17 overs between second-wicket partners Ed Smith and Alex Loudon.

After scoring a patient 31 from 56 balls, Loudon undid his good work by wandering down the track to miss a defensive push and gift Gerard Brophy a simple stumping.

Smith, having been dropped by Graeme Swann in the gully when on 34, made the most of the let-off to top-score with his first league century of the campaign.

Rob Key (18) and Matt Walker (20) both perished to the spinners after cameo stays, leaving Kent to score 72 off the last 10 overs of the game.

Smith and Michael Carberry (15) chipped away to bring that equation down to 42 from 30 balls.

Carberry then mis-timed a drive to cover but, with the pressure mounting, Smith dispatched a Paul Rofe full toss over the ropes at square leg to move to his ton from 125 balls and with 12 fours.

In the process Smith went past 600 totesport runs for season making him the second-leading run scorer behind Matthew Elliott in the division.

Then, with his score on 125, Smith drove to long-on where his former team-mate Ben Phillips took a stunning low catch.

Seven were needed off the final over, but Rob Ferley’s last ball flail missed and Louw knocked back his off stump to keep the Steelbacks in Division 1 and give Louw three for 37 - he was also the division's leading wicket-taker with 34.

Earlier, the big-hitting of former Kent all-rounder Phillips took Northamptonshire to a respectable total of 219 from their 45 overs.

The tall right-hander, who has just been offered a two-year contract to stay at Wantage Road, hammered 44 from 26 balls and with two fours and three sixes, to become Northants' second top-scorer on what was proving to be a tricky St Lawrence pitch.

Only Usman Afzaal (47) survived for very long on the spin-friendly surface that helped the majority of Kent's injury-hit attack.

With no Amjad Khan, Martin Saggers or Matt Dennington, who all missed out through injury, Kent relied heavily on Ben Trott.

Possibly playing his final game for the county Trott, who will be out of contract at the end of the month, did well to return two for 19, but why he wasn’t required to bowl his final two overs remained a mystery.

Trott bowled Tim Roberts with his third ball of the night then, after a short rest, came back to have Jeff Cook caught at mid-on with the first ball of a new stint.

The military-medium pace of Matthew Walker accounted for top-scorer Afzaal to a good catch by Niall O'Brien, back in the fold after his eye injury, who then stumped Tom Huggins off a wide by the same bowler.

A mix-up between Phillips and Brophy led to the latter’s run out to a throw by Loudon, who had just had David Sales caught at short mid-wicket off his looping off-spinners.

It looked set fair that Kent would restrict the Steelbacks to a total of 175, but big Ben's late blows proved otherwise as he clubbed three sixes off Rob Joseph’s last over of the innings.

The result ensures that the top three teams from the Frizzell Championship Division 1 have all been relegated to Division 2 of the totesport League.