Late pair steer Kent to Notts win

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE
Trent Bridge, day four: Kent 238 & 244-7 beat Nottinghamshire 202 & 279 by three wickets
Kent 18 pts, Nottinghamshire 4

Match scorecard

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Ryan McLaren scored 94 runs in the match

Kent defied England Test stars Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad to beat Notts by three wickets at Trent Bridge.

Sidebottom gave Notts early impetus by bowling Martin van Jaarsveld for 63 and then removing Geraint Jones for a duck after the home side began on 129-4.

Justin Kemp was caught off Charlie Shreck for 19, leaving Kent on 173-7.

But Ryan McLaren (37) and Yasir Arafat (36) shared an unbroken stand of 71 to steer their side to 244-7 and their first Championship win of the season.

After surviving a post-lunch change of ends by Sidebottom, who took 2-69 to add to his five first innings wickets, McLaren wrapped things up by pulling a ball from Samit Patel for his sixth boundary.

606: DEBATE As opposed to the longest tail, I would call it the deepest batting line up in World Cricket bar none. Mr Pop

He and fellow all-rounder Arafat were Kent's match-winners for the second successive game, having taken nine wickets between them in a 90-run Friends Provident Trophy win over Surrey on Monday.

"It was still very much in the balance when I was out. Fortunately Ryan and Yasir showed great courage, and determination, to see us through to a superb victory," skipper van Jaarsveld told the official Kent website.

"The first four-day win takes a lot of pressure off the boys. We have been a bit nervous but now we have secured our first victory, we can really look to push on and climb the table.

"We took a while to get going last season and then found our form. I'm confident we can do the same thing again this time."

The victory lifted Kent to fourth place in the Division One table, with Notts remaining on top, seven points ahead of Lancashire.