CANTERBURY (Essex won toss): Essex (2pts) beat Kent by four wickets
AS ANY cricketer will tell you, there is no such thing as a meaningless match. It was much ado about nothing, of course, because Sussex have already booked their place in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final in its absurd new format, but there were plenty of players with points to make.
Take Andy Bichel. The Australia all-rounder is 35 but still has World Cup ambitions and showed that he remains a formidable competitor on his Essex debut. He uprooted Neil Dexter’s middle stump, held a fine catch at deep square leg to get rid of Darren Stevens and clung to an even better one when Robert Key drilled the ball back at him.
Which brings us to Key. The new Kent captain has become England’s forgotten man since undergoing a shoulder operation during the winter but he looked lean and hungry with 89 off 92 balls, including a six and nine fours. Matthew Walker hit the ball even harder in a sixth-wicket stand of 102 in 11 overs, his unbeaten 52 coming from 34 balls with three sixes and two fours.
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A target of 282 was still within Essex’s range, however, once Mark Pettini had mocked the decision to use Darren Gough as a pinch-hitter with 80 off 66 balls. Andy Flower maintained the tempo with a run-a-ball 61 and James Foster kept the England wicketkeeping debate raging by seeing Essex home with an unbeaten 49.