Kent claim place in last eight

Darren Stevens guided Kent to victory at Hampshire with a fine 62 from 42 balls

Darren Stevens and Geraint Jones eased Kent into the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals with a match-winning stand at the Rose Bowl.

In the process they dented Hampshire hopes of joining them in the latter stages of the competition as Kent won by seven wickets, with 13 balls to spare.

In a low-scoring match in front of a 9,000 crowd, Hampshire made a modest 131 for seven and Kent had little trouble in overhauling it as Stevens and Jones shared an unbroken stand of 102 for the fourth wicket.

Hampshire struggled from the start and slipped to 82 for seven, but two middle-order stands at least gave them an outside chance of a fifth successive home victory.

Nic Pothas helped his captain Dimitri Mascarenhas put on 40 for the seventh wicket and then Dominic Cork featured in the best stand of the innings, 49 in five overs with Mascarenhas.

Mascarenhas was 45 not out at the close of the innings, having hit two sixes and a four, but his side's total never looked like being enough.

Hampshire's innings only contained seven boundaries as they struggled on a slow wicket.

Kent made a poor start, losing Rob Key, Joe Denly and Martin van Jaarsveld in passing 30.

But the turning point came when Jones, on three, was missed at first slip by Cork off Mascarenhas. With it went Hampshire's last chance of making a contest of the match.

Stevens hit an unbeaten 62 off only 42 balls with two sixes and five fours, while Jones was unbeaten on 35. He hit a solitary boundary but his contribution was vital.

It was the second time in less than a week that Stevens had produced a match-winning performance against Hampshire, having been the principle cause of Kent's win earlier in the week at Tunbridge Wells when he hit a belligerent 56 off 27 balls.