A fourth successive victory for Kent in the Twenty20 Cup against a green Surrey side ensured that they will finish top of the South division and that they will have home advantage in the quarter-finals.

Twenty20 Champions in 2007 and finalists last season, Kent are as impressive as Surrey used to be, but their innings today took until the twelfth over to ignite. After eking only three runs off Grant Elliott’s miserly first over, Kent were labouring at 80 for two from eleven overs.

Then 15 came from one over of the off breaks of Simon King, the unlucky Surrey debutant. He could have secured himself a wicket when Martin van Jaarsveld, on 34, lifted a full toss to deep mid-wicket, but Chris Jordan dropped the ball and it ran for four. On the next ball, another fielding slip at long-off gave Van Jaarsveld four more, and the shackles were off.

Geraint Jones began inauspiciously by falling over attempting to reverse-sweep King, but the former England wicketkeeper found his timing, driving and sweeping Elliott for two sixes as 18 came off the fifteenth over. He finished with 47 from 30 balls, and his partner Van Jaarsveld closed with 64 from 40.

Surrey, who slipped to their seventh successive defeat, had made several changes to their side, leaving out the likes of captain Usman Afzaal, Mark Ramprakash and Andre Nel. They were in contention until the end but ultimately lacked the power to chase an intimidating 184.

Indeed, they started their innings much faster than Kent did, with Michael Brown and Chris Jordan smashing their way to 40 within the first four overs. Their resistance soon crumbled, with both skying drives in quick succession, leaving Surrey on 57 for two after the first powerplay. That was seven ahead of Kent at the six-over stage, and five overs later they had increased their advantage, moving 13 ahead on 93 for three. The middle order could not maintain the challenge, though, with wickets tumbling, and Surrey faded after needing 56 off the last five overs.

Kent
J L Denly c Wilson b Jordan 19
R W T Key c Linley b Spriegel 17
M van Jaarsveld b Jordan 64
G O Jones c Walters b Spriegel 47
D I Stevens c Jordan b Spriegel 7
J M Kemp st Wilson b Spriegel 1
Azhar Mahmood c Elliott b Collins 3
R McLaren not out 18
S J Cook not out 1
Extras (b1 lb2 w2 nb2) 7
Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 184
J C Tredwell and A Khan did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-53, 3-149, 4-151, 5-159, 6-159, 7-176.
Bowling: Collins 4-0-30-1; Jordan 4-0-34-2; Linley 2-0-25-0; Spriegel 4-0-33-4; King 3-0-28-0; Elliott 3-0-31-0.

Surrey
M J Brown c Tredwell b Azhar Mahmood 23
C J Jordan c Khan b McLaren 20
S J Walters b Khan 21
C P Murtagh run out 28
G D Elliott c McLaren b Cook 22
M N W Spriegel c Kemp b McLaren 25
L J Evans lbw b McLaren 7
G C Wilson run out 6
S J King not out 5
T E Linley b McLaren 8
P T Collins not out 0
Extras (lb2 w1) 3
Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 168
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-44, 3-90, 4-103, 5-130, 6-146, 7-150, 8-159, 9-168.
Bowling: Stevens 1-0-11-0; McLaren 4-0-37-4; Khan 4-0-36-1; Azhar Mahmood 4-0-33-1; Cook 3-0-22-1; Tredwell 4-0-27-0. Umpires: V A Holder and D J Millns.