Yorkshire gain revenge as Kent miss out

Kent 185-8 Yorkshire 187-3 Yorkshire won by seven wickets

Having seen their Championship chance effectively ended when Kent stuck out for a draw here on Saturday, Yorkshire obtained vengeance of a kind yesterday by denying Kent the victory that would have given them the AXA Life League title.

In a decidedly anticlimatic finale to their Sunday League campaign, Kent could muster only a modest 185 for 8 from their 40 overs after opting to bat first, a total which Yorkshire overhauled with 10 overs and two balls to spare.

With Warwickshire victorious at Edgbaston, Kent had to swallow the disappointment of finishing second in a one-day competition for the second time this season, having been well beaten by Surrey in the Benson and Hedges Cup final in July.

The sponsors brought the silverware with them to Leeds, Warwickshire receiving a stand-in trophy after they beat Gloucestershire. The officials assembled for the presentation ceremony here instead handed over a cheque for pounds 21,000 to Kent as runners-up, as well as the man of the match award.

The recipient was Yorkshire's Darren Lehmann, whose unbeaten 78 carried Yorkshire home by seven wickets. It was the Australian left-hander's highest score of the Sunday season and his sixth of 50 or more yet, in common with the vanquished Kent, he missed out on a handsome prize.

Had he been able to reach 90, Lehmann would have overtaken the 654 runs accumulated by his compatriot, Matthew Hayden of Hampshire, to collect a pounds 5,000 bonus as the season's leading run scorer. It looked his for the taking until his team-mate Bradley Parker spoiled the plot with a cavalier 39 not out.

Parker plundered so much of the strike during the fourth-wicket partnership that clinched Yorkshire's success that Lehmann, who faced 68 balls and picked up nine fours, scored only six of the last 47 runs. Parker's piece included five fours and a six off 27 deliveries.

There were mitigating circumstances for Kent in that their bowling resources were deprived of Martin McCague and Dean Headley, both injured, although Yorkshire, for their part, were without Darren Gough and Chris Silverwood.

Skipper Steve Marsh, however, offered no excuse, nor did he argue with a suggestion that Kent are still inclined to freeze under pressure.

Kent slumped to 124 for 6 as seamer Gavin Hamilton took 3 for 30 and left-arm spinner Ian Fisher 2 for 23 and only a 61-run partnership between Marsh and Paul Strang lifted their total to respectable proportions.

Kent made an early breakthrough when Julian Thompson removed Anthony McGrath but a 19-over stand of 125 between Lehmann and Michael Vaughan (49) made the result almost a foregone conclusion, even though Yorkshire captain David Byas was brilliantly caught behind for a duck.