Kent won by four wickets

KENT opened their C&G Trophy win account with a thrilling last ball triumph over Hampshire by four wickets at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

Chasing the hosts par-for-the-course 50-over total of 258 for seven Kent got home with a scrambled single between seventh wicket pair Matt Walker and Simon Cook.

Needing 12 runs off the last over from man-of-the-match Dominic Thornley, Walker hit two, a clipped boundary through mid-wicket and then ran a single to pass the responsibility to Andrew Hall.

The South African, making his season’s debut for the county having only flown in to England on Thursday, had hit Shane Warne out of the park in the previous over to move to 10 but miscued in repeating the shot and holed out to Greg Lamb at point.

The batsmen crossed meaning Walker had two balls left to hit the five runs needed to win it.

The left-hander cracked the next ball back over the bowler’s head for four to tie the scores, prompting home skipper Warne to bring in his field to heap pressure on the Spitfires.

But Thornley misfielded from Walker’s last ball push drive allowing him and Cook to sprint through for the winning single.

The victory was a huge boost for a Kent side who put bad luck and their early season injury curse behind them to beat a strong Hampshire outfit.

Skipper Rob Key led from the front with a top-scoring 76, made patiently for 105 balls and with only three boundaries, but it was just the innings his side required.

Having seen Darren Stevens (43) and Neil Dexter (39) post 80 for the first wicket the visitors began to stumble when first Stevens and then Dexter mistimed attempted drives against Thornley.

But Key and van Jaarsveld (21) took on the responsibility of seeing off Warne, a job they looked set to complete until van Jaarsveld missed an attempted paddle to be bowl round his legs.

Key then succumbed to Thornley two overs from the end, but the diminutive Walker was man enough to see the job through with an unbeaten 29 from 23 balls.

Earlier, Australian Thornley had dominated the Hampshire innings with a chanceless unbeaten 107 as Kent again struggled for bowling control after losing Robbie Joseph after only four overs of the match through a thigh strain.

Former Kent batsman Michael Carberry chipped in with 33 before he ran himself out attempting a single to Hall.