Surrey v Kent (day four)

Martin van Jaarsveld became the first player in Kent history to score two unbeaten hundreds and take five wickets in a championship match as the South African almost single-handedly took on and beat Surrey over four thrilling days at The Brit Oval.

Kent's Kolpak signing hit an unbeaten 114 in his side's disappointing first innings 270, followed that with career-best figures of 5-33 with his off-spinners and then went out and won the game with a stunning unbeaten 115 to see the visitors home with four wickets and almost five hours to spare.

Needing 258 for their second win of the summer, Kent resumed on their overnight total of 166-5, needing a further 92 for victory.

Their overnight sixth-wicket partners van Jaarsveld and Geraint Jones took a low risk approach to collecting the 92 more runs they needed for victory.

With wrist-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq operating at the Pavilion End and seamer Abdul Razzaq from the Vauxhall End, both men got chances to play themselves in and keep the board ticking over.

Razzaq was pulled for four by Jones for the first boundary and the day and then strayed leg-side next ball allowing Jones to glance to the ropes at fine leg.

Van Jaarsveld appeared content to milk the leg-side singles off Saqlain at the rate of two or three an over, but he then glanced off leg stump against Saqlain to raise the Kent 200 in the 54th over.

The first bowling change of the day came after 45 minutes when Razzaq was replaced by spinner Usman Afzaal, but he proved tardy in dropping short allowing van Jaarsveld to force through the covers for another four.

With his options running out and with only 30 needed, acting Surrey skipper Mark Ramprakash turned to opening bowler Jade Dernbach who duly struck with his third delivery.

Jones, untroubled on 39, tried to steer-drive Dernbach's third delivery through cover point but edged to Ali Brown fielding at the lone slip position. The pair had added 71 in 23 overs.

With the light fading and rain promised, in walked Yasir Arafat to face yet another tense batting situation.

The all-rounder was dropped on three when Razzaq at mid-off downed a diving catch to his left off Dernbach then, two balls later, van Jaarsveld clipped a four through mid-wicket to raise his second hundred of the game from 150-balls with his 11th boundary.

It was the second time the South African has scored two tons in a game for Kent, this was his third championship hundred of the summer, his 15th for the county and his fourth against Surrey.

Appropiately, minutes later van Jaarsveld slipped the winning runs just as rain started to fall in SE11. It was Kent's first championship win at The Oval since 1991.

With his side now clear of the Division 1 relegation zone, a delighted Kent skipper Rob Key said: “It was a massive win for us and it will be interesting to see what effect this has on us on the rest of the summer.

“We lost a big toss because they had left the wicket very dry and, coming straight after the Twenty20 period, there were so many reasons why we wanted to bat first here.

“But we bowled brilliantly without much luck on the first day and we stuck to it on what was then a very flat deck.

“We didn’t bat very well in the first innings, other than Martin van Jaarsveld of course, then, on Tuesday, ‘Jarre’ had a bit of a ‘Roy of The Rovers’ type day.

“Those sort of games are once in a lifetime type game that take me back to schoolboy cricket because he dominated with bat and then with ball.

“To get two tons and his first five wicket return, well they’re games you only really dream about.”

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