Unchanged for all five of their matches so far, Kent had, until last night, made a confident start to the defence of their Twenty20 Cup title. However, sloppy fielding, plus ill-disciplined bowling and difficulty, in particular, against the leg spin of Danish Kaneria under the Chelmsford lights, undermined their challenge as Essex emerged triumphant in a tense affair.

Kaneria's first two overs cost only five runs, including the wicket of Martin van Jaarsveld for 32. Geraint Jones did reverse sweep the Pakistani for six over the short boundary, when Kaneria returned to bowl the sixteenth over, but an equation of 35 from the last four overs proved too much for Kent.asir Arafat hit the last ball of the match for six, ironically off from Kaneria, but it was too late.

Jason Gallian's 30-ball 44 held together the first half of the Essex innings together, following Varun Chopra's second ball duck and Graham Napier's brief but violent stay, and James Foster played a similar role in the final ten overs. James Tredwell bowled his off spin well, but Arafat had to be taken off after bowling two high full tosses in the first three balls of his final over. With Joe Denly failing to reach fifty for the first time in five innings, it was not to be Kent's night.

Essex

V Chopra lbw b Arafat 0

J E R Gallian b Tredwell 44

G R Napier b Azhar 9

G W Flower run out 18

*†J S Foster not out 41

R N ten Doeschate c Arafat b Tredwell 6

J D Middlebrook not out 17

Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 2, nb 4) 12

Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 147

A Roberts, D D Masters, Danish Kaneria and M A Chambers did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-9, 3-57, 4-81, 5-91.

Bowling: Arafat 3.1-0-30-1; Azhar 4-0-21-1; McLaren 2.5-0-26-0; Cook 4-0-21-0; Stevens 2-0-18-0; Tredwell 4-0-25-2.

Kent

J L Denly b Masters 24

*R W T Key b Napier 0

M van Jaarsveld b Kaneria 32

J M Kemp b Ten Doeschate 15

D I Stevens c Masters b Flower 14

†G O Jones c Ten Doeschate b Flower 15

Azhar Mahmood c Middlebrook b Flower 20

R McLaren b Ten Doeschate 3

Yasir Arafat not out 14

J C Tredwell not out 2

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

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 146

S J Cook did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-57, 3-76, 4-85, 5-93, 6-119, 7-130, 8-132.

Bowling: Napier 4-0-27-1; Masters 4-1-24-1; Chambers 1-0-16-0; Ten Doeschate 4-0-20-2; Kaneria 4-0-25-1; Middlebrook 1-0-9-0; Flower 2-0-21-3.

Umpires: N A Mallender and G Sharp.