Denly: Majestic 98

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• Kent
• Surrey

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• Joe Denly
• Martin Van Jaarsveld

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NatWest Pro40 - Division Two
The Brit Oval
Kent Spitfires 314-6 Innings Complete (J L Denly 98, M van Jaarsveld 93) v Surrey Brown Caps 172 (M N W Spriegel 54, J C Tredwell 4-32)
Kent beat Surrey by 142 runs

Kent leapt two places into second place and ended Surrey's promotion hopes with a crushing 142-run win in the Pro40 Division Two clash at The Oval.

Opener Joe Denly once again produced an eye-catching performance as he struck 98 - Martin van Jaarsveld continued his fine season with a brutal 93 as Kent made 314-6.

Surrey's response was woeful in truth - all-rounder Matt Spriegel top-scoring with a competition-best 54 as the Brown Caps fell a mammoth 142 runs short.

The toss is always key in day-night encounters and when Spitfires skipper Rob Key won it toss and elected to bat - the Brown Caps were always going to be up against it.

Opening duo Denly and Key were quickly into their stride on another pristine Oval wicket - the former punching the kind of elegant strokes which have made England selectors stand up and take note this season.

The fluent 41 opening partnership was broken when paceman Matthew Nicholson, potentially playing his last match for Surrey with the arrival of Shoaib Akhtar, found Key's edge and Stewart Walters pouched at slip.

Momentum

With Key gone for 21, van Jaarsveld made his way to the middle as Kent took complete control of proceedings.

The pair blazed a further 178 runs for the third wicket as the Brown Caps bowlers found themselves disappearing to all parts of the Test venue.

To the home side's credit they did fightback - van Jaarsveld perishing seven runs shy of a deserved century and Denly chopping onto his stumps just nine runs later.

Darren Stevens (30) carried on the Spitfires momentum to take the score past 300 in the 40-over allocation - Jade Dernbach (3-60) the pick of the Brown Caps bowlers.

At The Brit Oval any total is gettable, however when Robbie Joseph struck twice to remove openers Scott Newman (0) and James Benning (5) in his opening two overs, Surrey failed to recover.

The Brown Caps upper-order simply couldn't cope with the movement of Joseph and Amjad Khan - the latter striking twice in quick succession as Walters (8) and Usman Afzaal (7) were snaffled behind the wicket.

Jonathan Batty (49) and Spriegel gave the hosts' innings some respectability after remaining hope Mark Ramprakash had departed for 20 - van Jaarsveld catching well at slip off Ryan McLaren.

However, with the run-rate soaring, off-spinner James Tredwell helped himself to four late wickets to finish off both the tail, and Surrey's promotion bid.