Graham Thorpe marked his first innings of the summer with a half-century as Surrey finally opened their B&H Cup account.

Thorpe showed he was in good form with 61 before Surrey bowled Kent out with 44 runs to spare, giving the reigning champions an outside hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Opener Rob Key gave Kent every hope of reaching their target with a well-crafted 59, but the visitors were always playing catch-up after the first-ball loss of captain Matthew Fleming.

Fleming was caught by Alex Tudor off the bowling of Jimmy Ormond, the England hopeful finishing with three wickets but proving costly in conceding 65 runs.

Conversely, Tudor shed his customary waywardness, conceding only three per over and taking three wickets in the process.

Entertaining

He was responsible for the falling of the second Kent wicket when he bowled James Hockley for seven.

Philip Sampson kept Kent under the cosh with three wickets in the middle-order, including Dave Fulton for 42 after Mark Ramprakash had removed Key.

An entertaining 41 not out from Matthew Walker gave Kent some hope, but he ran out of partners as Tudor finished off the tail.

Surrey had Thorpe and Ali Brown to thank for their advantage after the pair batted with authority earlier on.

The promise of Thorpe's first knock for the summer is exciting news for England, but in truth he was upstaged by opener Brown.