Essex won the Battle of the South East by beating Kent by five wickets to claim the Friends Provident trophy at Lords today.
Essex's Zimbabwean veteran Grant Flower was key to his side's success as his unbeaten 70 guided them to victory.
However, things didn't always look in Essex's favour. When chasing a Kent score of 215, key players Alistair Cook and Ravi Bopara were dismissed in consecutive overs by Robbie Joseph, with the momentum swinging in Kent's favour.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Then Flower stepped up and placed the ball in all gaps. He completely destroyed his opponents in a 68-run partnership with James Foster, whose contribution was just 18 runs.
Despite Foster getting bowled out by the very lively Robbie Joseph (who claimed his third victim when bowling out Foster), Flower held on and ensured the run rate needed to be little more than five per over.
If there were any late-innings nerves, with 26 needed in the last five overs, they were quelled when Ryan ten Doeschate smashed home a four from Yasir Arafat's delivery to almost ensure it would be Essex who claimed the FP trophy.
This was then confirmed when Grant Flower, who had a fantastic game, sealed success by hitting home a four from an Azhar Mahmood delivery, winning the battle for Essex.
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