Essex v Kent: Preview

Bopara: Danger man

FP Trophy final - Live
Watch Essex v Kent, Saturday August 16 on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am.

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• Kent

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• Ravinder Bopara
• Martin Van Jaarsveld

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The domestic 50-over specialists go head-to-head as south east neighbours Essex and Kent contest a captivating Friends Provident final at Lord's on Saturday.

With plenty of international and domestic talent on show, captains Rob Key and Mark Pettini will be hoping their world-class players come to the fore to inspire their respective teams to some precious silverware.

Two of the most prolific one-day run scorers grace the home of cricket on Saturday as England and South Africa resume battle through Ravi Bopara and Martin van Jaarsveld.

Essex's Bopara, 23, is second only to Kent veteran van Jaarsveld in the Friends Provident Trophy scoring charts and the pair come face-to-face in Saturday's showpiece.

Although they are at opposite ends of their careers, their performances have been key to their side's chances of claiming the crown.

Bopara's Friends Provident tally of 492 runs includes his astonishing double-hundred against Leicestershire, in which he surged from 150 to 200 in just 16 deliveries.

Freedom

"It makes a big difference to how you play when your team is winning," Bopara said.

"Then as a player you think less about it. You have that mentality that you are going to win every time you walk out.

"So you can go out and express yourself, you can do what you want because you feel collectively, as a team, you're going to win. Okay, you don't win every time but you have that feeling every time you go out.

"That's nice because I can go out and play the way I want to play, not worry about getting out in certain situations.

"I can play whichever way I want because I know we've got good players in the back waiting to come in. It gives you the freedom to express yourself."

After a fleeting international career which featured just nine Tests and 11 one-day internationals for South Africa, van Jaarsveld has entered somewhat of a twilight period in his career.

Kent's star 34-year-old has scored 602 runs in the competition at a staggering average of 120.4 - including an unbeaten 122 against holders Durham in the semi-final stage.

"He's had an unbelieveable FPT tournament," said Kent skipper Key.

"He's probably had one of the best tournaments anyone has ever had in the domestic one-day game, but unless you're banging out 2,000 runs in the Championship, one-day cricket always gets overlooked a little bit.

"He's very hungry about scoring runs: he's at a stage where he's not going to play for his country, he's just got county cricket and he's very, very driven.

Eye on Pettini

"He's getting towards the latter years of his career, but I think he's got a few of them left, and he's got an immense appetite for runs and for improving.

"Every year he's come back to us, he's come back a better player.

"There are too many players in county cricket when they can't play for England any more, they're just happy to cruise through whereas van Jaarsveld every year makes a little change here and there and becomes a better player and it's a credit to him."

Essex have been dealt a late fitness scare ahead of Saturday's final with doubts surrounding the fitness of skipper Pettini who has sustained an eye injury.

The 25-year-old visited an eye specialist in Birmingham on Friday and batted at number 11 during day four of his side's first innings against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Pace bowler Maurice Chambers (ankle) is definitely out of for the Eagles.

Kent face an anxious wait over four of their key all-rounders for the final. Darren Stevens, Justin Kemp, Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat will all be continually assessed leading up to the game.

Essex 13-man squad: Mark Pettini (capt), James Foster (vc), Alastair Cook, Jason Gallian, Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Middlebrook, Graham Napier, David Masters, Chris Wright, Danish Kaneria, Grant Flower, Varun Chopra, Tim Phillips, Tony Palladino.

Kent 13-man squad: Rob Key (capt),Martin van Jaarsveld (vc), Azhar Mahmood, Simon Cook, Joe Denly, Geraint Jones, Rob Joseph, Justin Kemp, Ryan McLaren, Darren Stevens, James Tredwell, Matt Walker, Yasir Arafat