Kent ease into Trophy final

Van Jaarsveld: 122 not out

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• Stephen Harmison
• Joe Denly

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  • Martin Van Jaarsveld
  • Dale Benkenstein

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FP Trophy semi-final
Riverside
Kent 301-4 (M van Jaarsveld 122 no, J L Denly 102, S J Harmison 4-47) v Durham 218 (D M Benkenstein 80 no, W R Smith 56)
Kent beat Durham by 83 runs

Durham's defence of the FP Trophy ended with an 83-run semi-final defeat to Kent at the Riverside on Friday.

Joe Denly and Martin van Jaarsveld both struck centuries as Kent piled up a formidable total of 301-4 after being asked to bat.

In pursuit, Durham slumped to 2-2, and despite skipper Dale Benkenstein's unbeaten 79, fell well short at 217 all out in 43.1 overs.

Kent will now play either Essex or Yorkshire - who meet in the second semi-final on Saturday - in the final at Lord's on August 16.

Platform

Denly shared an opening stand of 96 with captain Robert Key to set the platform for Kent's large total.

The 22-year-old opener's first 50 came off 57 balls with eight fours but it was a far from chanceless effort.

He was dropped on 37 by a diving Will Smith, a difficult opportunity running back from cover, and survived several other scares, including a Steve Harmison yorker that almost rolled via his pad back onto the stumps.

Denly was also struck on the helmet by a 90mph bouncer from the out-of-favour England paceman, who worked up a furious head of steam after his first over - the 15th of the innings - disappeared for 13 runs.

After Key (40) edged behind off the fired-up Harmison, the momentum of the innings was increased by van Jaarsveld during a second-wicket partnership of exactly 100.

The South African-born batsman continued his fine form having scored a century in each innings of the Championship win over Surrey earlier in the week.

Denly (102) was bowled by Harmison three balls after reaching three figures, but van Jaarsveld went on to finish undefeated on 122 from just 93 balls.

Harmison removed Azhar Mahmood (14) and Justin Kemp (5) to finish with figures of 4-47 from his 10 overs.

Early trouble

Durham's run chase stumbled immediately with opening pair Michael Di Venuto and Phil Mustard falling cheaply.

Azhar Mahmood (1-17) trapped Di Venuto (2) lbw with the final delivery of his opening over, although replays suggested the Tasmanian had got an inside edge, while Yasir Arafat (2-47) followed up by having the dangerous Mustard caught behind for a three-ball duck.

Hope was restored for the holders by Paul Collingwood's run-a-ball 36 before the England one-day captain fell lbw to Ryan McLaren (1-32).

Number three Smith shared a 107-run, fourth-wicket partnership with skipper Benkenstein to keep Durham in contention.

But Smith's dismissal for 56, lbw to Darren Stevens' (1-42) medium pace, reduced Durham to 163-4 and was the start of a collapse that saw the final seven wickets go down for 54 runs.

Benkenstein stood firm with 79 not out as off-spinner James Tredwell worked his way through the lower order for figures of 3-37, the result being sealed with the run out of last man Neil Killeen (0).