Yasir Arafat, the Pakistan all-rounder who once plied his trade for Scotland, swept Kent, the Twenty20 Cup holders, into the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams in the qualifying groups with a compelling all-round performance.

Arafat, who helped Sussex to win the county championship in 2006 but had to be released because Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, his compatriot, was contracted to return the next season, struck 42 off 23 balls, then took three wickets in his first two overs.

It was all too much for Sussex, who had already lost interest in the competition after winning only two of their previous nine games and turned their thoughts to the LV County Championship match against Lancashire, which starts at Hove tomorrow, by resting Chris Adams, their captain.

A crowd of more than 5,000 still turned out on a cold, damp night on the South Coast but most of them had bought their tickets in advance and there were a few boos as they slumped to 112 all out in 17 overs to bring to a sad conclusion a campaign that they began full of optimism.

Arafat was straight into the action after Joe Denly had been caught at backward point off Dwayne Smith, the West Indies all-rounder, who has now signed a Kolpak contract that will keep him at Hove until the end of the 2010 season, and setting the pace in a second-wicket stand of 67 in seven overs.

He had already struck three fours when he launched into Smith's final over, hitting another four and three sixes, the last of them soaring over the old pavilion, before he was caught on the square-leg boundary trying to clear the rope for a fourth time.

Only Azhar Mahmood went close to matching that with an unbeaten 34 off 21 balls before Chris Liddle restricted Kent to 162 for seven by returning to claim Matthew Walker leg-before and then take three wickets in four balls in the final over to return his second four-wicket haul in the competition.

Not that it mattered much once Arafat went to work. He hit Murray Goodwin's leg stump in his first over, had Matt Prior caught at mid-off from a horrible top edge and bowled Smith in his second.

With their big guns gone, Sussex were doomed and Arafat did not even have to bowl again.

Kent

J L Denly c Hopkinson b D R Smith 0

*R W T Key c Prior b Yardy 38

Yasir Arafat c Goodwin b D R Smith 42

D I Stevens c Hopkinson b Beer 22

Azhar Mahmood not out 34

M J Walker lbw b Liddle12

R McLaren c Hopkinson b Kirtley 1

M van Jaarsveld c D R Smith b Liddle 4

J C Tredwell c Hodd b Liddle 0

G O Jones b Liddle 0

R H Joseph not out 1

Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 4) 8

Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 162

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-67, 3-104, 4-113, 5-147, 6-148, 7-160, 8-161, 9-161.

Bowling: D R Smith 4-0-35-2; Liddle 4-0-28-4; Kirtley 3-0-31-1; Beer 4-0-27-1; Yardy 4-0-27-1; Hamilton-Brown 1-0-11-0.

Sussex

M H Yardy c Stevens b Joseph 26

M W Goodwin b Arafat 8

*M J Prior c Tredwell b Arafat 3

D R Smith lbw b Arafat 0

R J Hamilton-Brown st Jones b Tredwell 36

B C Brown c Jones b Joseph 6

C D Hopkinson c and b McLaren 2

A J Hodd run out 11

W A T Beer run out 3

C J Liddle not out 10

R J Kirtley c Stevens b Azhar 0

Extras (lb 1, w 4, nb 2) 7

Total (17 overs) 112

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-30, 3-34, 4-43, 5-54, 6-57, 7-85, 8-90, 9-111.

Bowling: Azhar 3-0-22-1; Arafat 2-0-12-3; McLaren 4-0-29-1; Joseph 4-0-24-2; Tredwell 4-0-24-1.

Umpires: V A Holder and G Sharp.

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