It was at the end of the day, long after his team's victory, that James Foster, the wicketkeeper, sat behind the pavilion and, in a moment of unguarded honesty, explained how much winning a Lord's final meant to him.

“It's been a very emotional day for me, being an Essex boy and having been through a tough winter,” he said. “It was the loss of my mother,” he explained briefly, before swiftly returning to cricket to help stem the tears.

“It's wonderful, a great day. We performed really well.” Most cricketers are articulate, nice blokes before they are media-trained by the ECB, and although this may have been an accidental invasion of a most private moment, Foster displayed the characteristic openness that speaks volumes for him.

Foster had earlier played his part in a win that, in the end, came comfortably as Essex passed Kent's 214 with seven balls to spare. He was his usual exemplary self behind the stumps, standing up to the new ball - an ability that is regularly overlooked by the England selectors - to help strangle Kent. Foster, 28 and far more accomplished than when he was picked for England at 21, should be close to their thoughts. He admitted to calling Geoff Miller, the national selector, and talking with him at the Rose Bowl on Twenty20 finals day, to find out what he needed to improve. Runs and how you get them helps.

Here, Foster was part of the match-turning partnership of 68 in 96 balls with Grant Flower - the linchpin of the innings and the man of the match - that restored Essex's momentum after Alastair Cook had limply cut a long hop from Robbie Joseph to extra cover to leave them on 93 for four.

Flower and Foster ran Kent ragged with “tip and run” singles and by turning ones into twos. Foster contributed just 18 runs but his speed between the wickets was crucial and Flower was able to impose himself with an unbeaten 70 off 97 balls.

Flower has been in and out of the side in the past few seasons and had not played in all of the team's matches in the competition. It is all too easy to see him as a 37-year-old journeyman player coming to the end of the line, but that would be to forget that he played 67 Tests and 219 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe from 1992 to 2004, scoring 6,536 runs in the latter format at a healthy average of 33.69.

This low-scoring match was built for him and the clever angles he finds; third man and fine leg were kept busy. It might not be his last season at Essex after all. Will you play next season, Grant? “I don't know, it depends on whether I get another contract,” he said in his quiet, modest way.

Rob Key, the Kent captain, was much more outspoken at the manner of his team's defeat. “Losing is not great when you have given everything you can give,” Key said, “but when you bat that badly it's a joke. It was just brainless the shots we played. It was all hero or villain stuff - going for fours and sixes. It was a tough wicket but how many of us were out defending? They [Flower and Foster] gave us a lesson to us on how to bat on a seaming wicket.”

It was Kent's seventh consecutive defeat in a one-day Lord's final since they won the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1978. There were horrible shots by all of their top order, but there is no doubt they had tougher conditions to start with after Key had elected to bat.

Mark Pettini, the Essex captain, admitted that he would have batted first, too. In the red-ball days that was never the way in a Lord's final but, since 2005, when the white ball was introduced, three sides winning the toss have batted first and gone on to lose. It was a good toss to lose on Saturday.

Scoreboard

Kent
J L Denly b Napier 11
*R W T Key c Foster b Masters 7
M van Jaarsveld c Cook b Wright 58
J M Kemp b Masters 16
D I Stevens c Foster b Wright 0
G O Jones lbw b Kaneria 19
Azhar Mahmood c Flower b Kaneria 2
R McLaren b Bopara 63
Yasir Arafat b Bopara 27
J C Tredwell run out 0
R H Joseph not out 2
Extras (lb 7, nb 2) 9

Total (50 overs) 214

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-19, 3-58, 4-59, 5-94, 6-100, 7-138, 8-204, 9-209.

Bowling: Masters 10-2-34-2; Napier 8-1-23-1; Wright 8-0-36-2; Bopara 8-0-46-2; Kaneria 10-0-42-2; Ten Doeschate 6-0-26-0.

Essex
*M L Pettini lbw b Azhar 10
J E R Gallian b Azhar 28
A N Cook c Stevens b Joseph 33
R S Bopara lbw b Joseph 7
G W Flower not out 70
J S Foster c Jones b Joseph 18
R N ten Doeschate not out 30
Extras (lb 7, w 11, nb 4) 22

Total (5 wkts, 48.5 overs) 218

G R Napier, C J C Wright, D D Masters and Danish Kaneria did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-60, 3-88, 4-93, 5-161.

Bowling: Azhar 9.5-0-53-2; Arafat 9-1-40-0; Joseph 10-1-40-3; McLaren 10-0-34-0; Stevens 8-0-35-0; Tredwell 2-0-9-0.

Umpires: N J Llong and G Sharp.