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- Friends Provident Trophy
- South East Division
- 16th May 2008
Essex crushed by Kent
Awesome Arafat stuns hosts
Last updated: 16th May 2008
Arafat: Early wickets
Friends Provident Trophy - South/East Division
Chelmsford
Kent 230-7 (J M Kemp 51) v Essex 124 (Yasir Arafat 4-29)
Kent beat Essex by 106 runs
A fine opening burst from Yasir Arafat sent Kent on their way to a comprehensive victory over Essex at Chelmsford.
The hosts surrendered their position at the top of the table to Kent, who were never in danger of losing after Arafat removed Mark Pettini and Ravi Bopara in his first over.
He also claimed the wickets of Grant Flower and James Foster during his devastating burst, all lbw, while Azhar Mahmood removed Jason Gallian for a top score 24, another lbw victim.
Tail-enders Graham Napier and Chris Wright unleashed a few belligerent strokes while each scoring 23 to help Essex to at least steer clear of complete humiliation.
Justin Kemp had earlier top scored with 51 in a knock that contained just three boundaries, and it was a valuable effort after Graham Napier (3-29) had removed Joe Denly and Martin van Jaarsveld with successive balls in his first over.
Kemp had good support from Rob Key (41) while most of the Kent batsmen chipped in - Arafat even struck a boundary in his unbeaten innings of 13.
