Ben Dawkins struck a maiden List A century to steer Kent Spitfires to their second Metro Bank One-Day Cup victory of the season, beating Northamptonshire by seven wickets at Wantage Road on Thursday.
The England under-19 opener hit an unbeaten 111 off 105 balls in an innings that included 12 fours and two sixes as he shared a second-wicket stand of 157 from 181 balls with Joey Evison, who made a fine 82.
Young guns Aadi Sharma and Stuart van der Merwe starred with the bat for the Steelbacks in a partnership of 75 from 87 balls, characterised by rapid running between the wickets.
Sharma made an excellent 82, which was his maiden List A half-century.
Their stand came after Evison – who bowled his 10 overs straight through – removed Northamptonshire’s top order to finish with career-best List A figures of 3-36.
Matt Parkinson took 2-50 as the hosts suffered a middle-order collapse before some lower-order hitting from Dom Leech, who fired 36 off 35 balls.
But the hosts’ eventual total of 243 all out proved insufficient.
Dawkins, 19, said: “It was amazing to be out there with the Kent boys this time [after playing at Northampton this summer for England under-19s].
“Credit to Jaydn Denly and Joey Evison. I thought they batted amazingly and made my job a lot easier. Then, it was about seeing at home which, luckily enough, I was able to do.
“Jaydn and I do try and be very positive.
“We try and say ‘Just play strong cricket shots’ because, obviously, 50 overs is a long time. That gives ourselves a chance to get in and then capitalise late on in the powerplay.”
Earlier, Luke Procter was caught behind, playing at a wide one from Evison. But Sharma was soon into his work, hooking and driving sweetly, although he rode his luck at times.
James Sales fell cheaply, adjudged lbw to one that kept low from Evison, while Northamptonshire lost a third when George Bartlett was caught behind from Evison’s bowling, cutting close to his body.
That brought Sharma together with van der Merwe, who tucked into Parkinson’s leg-spin, cutting through cover and swotting him over long-off for six.
van der Merwe reverse swept Jack Leaning (1-23), taking Northamptonshire past 100, and Sharma upper-cut Corey Flintoff (0-33) over the vacant slip region to reach 50 from 58 balls.
The drinks break brought a wicket when van der Merwe chipped Leaning straight to long-on but Sharma continued to attack.
He skipped down the pitch to deposit Leaning over extra cover and clipped Flintoff off his legs for six.
The tide turned as Parkinson made a double breakthrough, with three wickets falling for five runs in 17 balls.
First, Parkinson bowled Lewis McManus round his legs before spinning one past off-stump to take the edge of Sharma’s bat through to the keeper.
With the next delivery, Mohammad Rizvi (1-49) trapped Rob Keogh plumb lbw.
With Northamptonshire 171-7, Leech found a good ally in debutant Aryaman Varma in an enterprising stand of 59 runs.
Leech attacked the spinners, smiting Parkinson over mid-wicket before sweeping for six, while Varma deployed the cut shot to good effect.
Leech smashed Rizvi straight to bring up the 50-run partnership before Jaydn Denly (2-19) struck twice in two balls. He bowled Leech as he attempted to reverse sweep before bowling Yuzvendra Chahal.
Fred Klaassen (1-30) picked up the final wicket, Varma well caught by a tumbling Flintoff at mid-off.
Dawkins started aggressively, punching several boundaries through the off-side and pulling Procter (0-48) for a straight maximum.
Denly, meanwhile, sent a huge six flying over deep mid-wicket from Leech (0-36) as Kent raced past 50 inside seven overs.
Scoring briefly slowed against spinners Nirvan Ramesh (1-13) and former Kent spinner Chahal (0-44), with the opening stand of 58 runs ended by a sensational one-handed diving catch by van der Merwe at cover off Ramesh.
Dawkins reached 50 with a streaky boundary off Varma (0-54) while Evison collected boundaries against the spinners as he hit over extra cover, reaching his own half-century with a sumptuous cover drive off Leech.
Runs kept coming for Evison as he smashed over mid-wicket and Dawkins reached his ton, pulling van der Merwe (1-23) over mid-wicket for six.
Evison crunched van der Merwe for a straight maximum before he holed out at long-on.
On his partnership with Evison, Dawkins said: “It was very important for us to stay together, especially with Yuzi Chahal who’s, obviously, a worldwide superstar.
“Just to stay together and try and take it deep and then, later on, we were able to cash in. It was a very good batting pitch, we thought, so we just said give each other some time and we can kick on later.
“I thought our spinners bowled really well. Obviously, Rizvi’s coming into the team.
“He’s put in a lot of hard work over the years so he’s bowled absolutely fantastically.
“And Parky is just Parky, he’s bowled so well for a number of years now.”
Chris Benjamin followed soon after Evison in similar fashion off Keogh (1-29) but, with the target in sight, Dawkins was there to see his side home.
Spitfires will return to 50-over action when they play Somerset at Canterbury’s Spitfire Ground this Sunday before they conclude the One-Day Cup campaign against Yorkshire at the same venue on Tuesday.
