Pettini praises team effort

Essex's victorious captain Mark Pettini celebrated the "epitome" of a team performance, after beating Kent by a comfortable five wickets in the Friends Provident Trophy final.

Grant Flower's unbeaten 70 earned him the man-of-the-match award at Lord's, where the Eagles bowled their opponents out for 214 in their full 50 overs - despite battling half-centuries from South Africans Ryan McLaren (63) and Martin van Jaarsveld (58).

That total always seemed likely to be within Essex's range, and veteran former Zimbabwe batsman Flower did the necessary to steer his team home with 11 balls to spare - after first change seamer Robbie Joseph had induced a minor wobble with 3-40.

Pettini could therefore reflect with great satisfaction when he said: "That was the epitome of a team performance today.

"Grant Flower stood out in the run chase, but the rest of the day was all down to the fight from the team."

Essex celebrate their five-wicket Friends Provident Trophy triumph over Kent at a packed out Lord's

Kent never threatened to post a dominant total, after Robert Key had chosen to bat first - and it was thanks chiefly to McLaren that they were able to produce a partial fightback, from 100 for six at one stage.

"It turned out to be a nice toss to lose," said Pettini, who was nonetheless delighted by the way David Masters and Graham Napier used the new ball.

"My team were absolutely fantastic today. We knew Kent would come hard at us, and the guys rose to the challenge really well," he added.

Essex were strong favourites by the time their own innings began. But they still needed someone to bat well - and Flower did not disappoint.

"Kent were obviously still in the game and bowled really well. But the guys put together a great run chase," Pettini concluded.

Flower nudged the ball around and rattled between the wickets in stands of 68 with James Foster and 57 unbroken with Ryan ten Doeschate.

"It got a bit easier in the afternoon, so it wasn't a bad toss to lose," said Flower. "We just needed to get some partnerships together because chasing a small total that is what it is all about. Keeping out the good balls and putting away the bad ones.

"From playing a lot of cricket you get used to where the gaps are. I am not a big, strong hitter of the ball over the top, so you have to find other ways of manipulating it."

Mark Pettini was delighted with the way Graham Napier bowled, dismissing Kent opener Joe Denly

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Having watched English domestic finals as a youngster in southern Africa, Flower treasured his man-of-the-match display in what is the twilight of his career.

"It is definitely a high point for me at Essex and as you get older your successes are few and far between, so I will definitely take that," he said.

"I used to watch these finals a lot, I always had a wish to play in one at Lord's and so it is brilliant that it has come true."

There was precious little for Key to smile about, as he came to terms with Kent's second defeat of the season in a major limited-overs final.

The captain had no doubts where it went wrong this time for the Spitfires - who also came unstuck in the Twenty20 Cup showpiece against Middlesex at the Rose Bowl.

"There's no point getting into finals if you are not going to win them," he observed., and absolving McLaren, he added: "We batted appallingly today.

"I don't think there were many who can put their hands up and say they were got out."

Key gave due credit to former Kent seamer Masters and his team-mates but insisted: "We put ourselves under pressure and have only ourselves to blame - we just did not get enough runs.

"I don't mind losing when you have put your best game out there, but we were very poor with the bat today.

"Grant Flower did really well, and our boys probed hard with the ball. But our batting let us down."