Kent v Middlesex: Scores & match report

Match scores (Canterbury)

Kent won by 46 runs 

Kent  inns: 200 (46/50 overs. Northeast 55, Parnell 32; Roland-Jones 3-35, Franklin 2-26, Helm 2-42, Patel 2-42)

Middlesex inns: 154 (46/50 overs. Compton 37, Franklin 33; Parnell 3-33, Denly 3-20)

Match report

Part-time leg-spinner Joe Denly was the unlikely hero as Kent claimed their first Royal London One-Day Cup win of the year with a 46-run victory over Middlesex.

Having failed to defend 330-plus scores in their previous two matches, Spitfires managed to protect a modest total of 200, with Denly bagging Kent-best figures of three for 20.

Needing to score at a shade over four an over to record their second South Group win, Middlesex committed cardinal one-day errors in losing cheap wickets at regular intervals.

The visitors lost Dawid Malan in the third over when the left-hander sparred outside off against Wayne Parnell to nick to second slip.

Four balls later, South Africa left-armer Parnell, in his last home game of his current spell as Kent's overseas all-rounder, ran one back up the Canterbury slope to trap Nick Gubbins lbw for a single.

Adam Voges and Nick Compton added 38 before Kent struck through Darren Stevens, who belied his 41 years by taking a stunning return catch from a Voges' drive to make it 49 for three.

Eleven runs later and Spitfires were celebrating again when a direct hit from 12th man Will Gidman, substituting for the injured Matt Coles, ran out John Simpson after Compton had called for a sharp single to the cover fielder.

Coles returned after treatment for a sore shin to pocket a comfortable catch off the bowling of James Tredwell that ended Compton's 85-ball stay for a painstaking 37 and left Tredwell with one for 29 from his 10 overs.

Keeping pace off the ball, Kent's occasional leg-twirler Denly struck to have Ryan Higgins caught behind and in his next over trapped Toby Roland-Jones lbw when working across the line.

Middlesex, with only three wickets remaining, still required 78 going into their final 10 overs when Denly caught a rasping James Franklin drive one-handed to send the visiting skipper packing for 33.

Mitch Claydon replaced Denly to have James Fuller caught off a skier leaving Parnell to finish it with another reflex return caught and bowled catch that accounted for Ravi Patel and gave Parnell deserved figures of three for 33.

Kent's day started badly when they again lost the toss in overcast conditions and were duly invited to bat with the floodlights already on.

Their gloom deepened after only two deliveries when Daniel Bell-Drummond, fresh from scoring back-to-back hundreds in losing causes, feathered a defensive push against Roland-Jones into the gloves of Simpson to depart without scoring.

Home skipper Sam Northeast and second-wicket partner Denly, batting against his former county, steadied Spitfires with a stand of 52 that ended in the 13th over when Denly pulled a short one to midwicket where Voges held a stinging overhead chance.

Northeast, who enjoyed a life on 24 after Voges downed a regulation slip chance, posted his 13th List A half-century after Sean Dickson miscued an attempted pull against Franklin to mid-on to go for 29.

Northeast went for 55 after skying Patel to the keeper while Alex Blake lasted only two balls, tamely hanging his bat out against Franklin and edging a third catch to Simpson.

The procession of Kent batsmen to the pavilion continued when Stevens miscued to extra cover to gift Patel a second scalp, bringing together Adam Rouse and Parnell (32) for a face-saving seventh-wicket stand worth 34.

With little to lose Parnell went for his strokes only to smear Malan's first ball of the day, a low full-toss, straight into the hands of Tom Helm at deep midwicket.

Coles edged an attempted drive against Helm to slip where Voges held a stunning overhead catch and then Rouse nicked an attempted cut to Simpson to give Helm a second wicket.

With four of their 50 overs still to be bowled, Claydon, who had just hooked the only six of his side's innings, was yorked by Roland-Jones, the pick of the Middlesex attack with three for 35.