They did not cross the line with quite the swagger of a Usain Bolt, but Essex ran out clear winners of the Friends Provident Trophy last night, the first time they have lifted this prize since 1997. Kent fought hard to defend a score of 214, but their early failures with the bat proved too much to overcome.

Essex’s hero was the former Zimbabwe allrounder Grant Flower, the oldest and most experienced player on the field. His 37 years and 219 ODI appearances gave him the know-how to see Essex home after they were wobbling at 93 for four in the 24th over, shortly after he arrived at the crease.

Kent were in full attack mode, Robert Key greeting him with four slips, but Flower gave a masterful display of measured cricket. He worked the ball all round the wicket and mwith 331 runs and nine wickets.

Ten Doeschate learned his cricket in South Africa but plays his international cricket for Holland, whom he recently helped to qualify for next year’s World Twenty20, in which they have been drawn in England’s group.

The result was a grave disappointment for Kent, whose County Championship prospects were recently hurt by a controversial defeat to Durham and who were denied a Champions League place through their connections with the Indian Cricket League. Key, reportedly close to an England recall, took the defeat hard, marching off the field 30 yards ahead of his players.

Kent, who last won this trophy in 1974, were kept in the game by Essex’s overcaution and a lively performance from Robbie Joseph, a fast bowler whose praises his captain has been signing for some time. Knowing that they needed little more than four an over, Essex seemed to go about their chase more mindful of protecting wickets than accumulating r u n s . K e y , a s h e h a d t o , attacked with two or three slips, but Essex lost only one wicket in 13 overs and at just the time they should have been looking to drive home their advantage, they became ever more hesitant.

If Ravi Bopara was slightly unlucky to fall lbw to a ball that might have gone over the stumps, he had shown little initiative, and when Alastair Cook was presented with a widish ball that deserved to be put away, he poked it straight to cover.

Kent were feeding hungrily off Essex’s fragile mood, but they were thwarted by Flower and James Foster in a terrific partnership of 68. Foster, who was laid low by a virus last week, was the junior partner, but he played the situation intelligently and would have done his chances of a recall to an England team of some description no harm. He had kept wicket well earlier in the day to cement a growing reputation as the best gloveman in the country.

When Foster fell, caught behind off a ball of extra bounce from Joseph, whose pace reached the upper 80s, there was still work to be done, Essex going into the last 10 overs needing a further 50 for victory. But they possessed the deeper batting resources and Ten Doeschate was soon going for broke in the knowledge that Graham Napier was to come. Kent’s hopes all but slipped away as Ten Doeschate was put down at fine leg by Darren Stevens and Yasir Arafat missed a chance to run him out on 17.

In hindsight, Key’s decision to bat first may be questioned, but the conditions were not as obviously in favour of the bowlers as the scorecard would suggest. Kent lost wickets – four of them inside 18 overs – to a combination of indifferent batting, disciplined bowling from David Masters (who began his career at Kent) and Napier and some ill-fortune. The ball didn’t move extravagantly. Most sides would have batted first.

Key’s decision may also have been influenced by the fact that Kent had successfully defended on the five previous occasions they had batted first during this campaign, although before yesterday their lowest 50-over score was the 230 that had proved sufficient to keep Essex at bay in the group stages in May. A score of 214 left Kent needing something special in the field.

Key was unlucky. He was adjudged caught behind off Masters, but replays suggested that ball was nowhere near bat. That injustice was swiftly offset by a first-ball reprieve for Martin van Jaarsveld. Umpire George Sharp must have thought the batsman had got a thin inside edge, otherwise the lbw appeal from Napier, whose speed topped 91mph at one point, would have been a formality. In last year’s FP Trophy the counties experimented with a referrals system that would have allowed appeals against these errors, but the trial was discontinued largely through the indifference of players and officials.

Van Jaarsveld was to stay for nearly 32 overs; without him, Kent would have been condemned to an emphatic defeat. His technique may raise eyebrows – he waits for the ball with bat raised like a periscope – but its success in this competition cannot be questioned, his 58 yesterday raising his tally to 660 at an average of 110.

Curiously, this form was not replicated in Twenty20: he barely mustered a run in a format in which improvisation can be paramount. Here his main job was to occupy the crease (he hit only four fours in 75 balls) and keep his side afloat as wickets fell steadily at the other end. He lost five partners during his stay - Geraint Jones deserves mention for helping him arrest the first slide - and when he was out for 58 to a good running catch by Cook, Kent were still in trouble at 138 for seven.

However, a platform had been created on which Ryan McLaren and Yasir Arafat could build. Over the next 11 overs they put on 66 together without taking foolish risks. Mark Pettini may have erred in bowling Danish Kaneria and Bopara in tandem for almost all this time. Kaneria, a key figure in Essex’s one-day revival, had struck with two early wickets, but he was being milked for runs by the end. It was the longest Essex went without a wicket and it might have been better for them if they had tried a change of tack.

McLaren and Arafat are highly resourceful allrounders of the type who prove so valuable in county cricket. This season both have taken more than 70 wickets and scored more than 500 runs in all matches. South African-born McLaren declared an ambition to play for England after helping Kent win the Twenty20 Cup last year and he may not be disappointed. He will qualify by residence in 2011, when he turns 28.