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Eagles soar to victory over Spitfires

Essex took a huge step towards a Twenty20 Cup quarter-final place with a five-wicket demolition of Kent at Chelmsford.

After bowling out the visitors for 157, Essex secured their fifth victory in the competition with eight deliveries to spare.

Skipper Ronnie Irani was a pivotal figure in their triumph. After ducks in his two previous outings, he came back to form with a belligerent 53 from 43 balls.

Opening the innings with Mark Pettini, with whom he shared in a partnership of 68 in eight overs, Irani plundered three sixes and five fours before he was trapped leg before by fast bowler Amjad Khan.

Irani's departure left Essex requiring a further 47 with seven overs remaining but they were to make hard work of it as they faltered against slow left-armer Min Patel.

Either side of Irani's dismissal, Patel picked up three wickets in the space of eight deliveries at a personal cost of three runs.

But Essex nerves were settled by Ryan ten Doeschate and James Middlebrook, who finished with 20 and 48 respectively while gathering the remaining runs in six overs.

Kent, who had gone into action topping the group with five victories from six games, failed to get going with the bat.

All their top order moved into double figures comfortably enough but no-one was able to put together a substantial contribution against steady bowling backed up by excellent work in the field.

The catch at deep cover by Pettini to get rid of Andrew Hall for 27 was a particularly fine effort that earned left-arm spinner Grant Flower one of his two successes.

Darren Gough, Andy Bichel and Graham Napier also picked up a couple of wickets each while James Tredwell emerged as Kent's top scorer with a modest 28.

There is now the intriguing possibility of four teams finishing with 10 points in the group. That will happen if Sussex overcome Essex next Tuesday and Kent slip up against Surrey.

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