Twenty20 Cup holders Kent beat Sussex in style at Hove to secure a quarter-final at Warwickshire.

While Sussex had little to play for, Kent had to win or face the certainty of elimination from the tournament.

And Yasir Arafat was their star on Friday evening, taking 3-12 after the Kent batsmen had made 162-9.

Arafat, who also top-scored with 42, helped ensure Sussex were bowled out for just 112 in 17 overs, with the Spitfires registering a 50-run win.

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Kent's total did not look massive on a good batting track.

But Sussex's chase was fatally undermined after they lost key men Murray Goodwin, acting captain Matt Prior and Dwayne Smith in the first four overs - all to former Sussex fast bowler Arafat.

In his first over Arafat uprooted Goodwin's leg stump and in his second he had Prior caught at mid-off off a mis-timed drive before winning a contentious leg-before decision against Smith, who had taken three or four paces down the track trying to work the ball through the leg side.

Opener Mike Yardy held things together with 26 off 17 balls including four boundaries, but once he pulled Robbie Joseph's first ball in Twenty20 cricket straight to deep square-leg Sussex were out of contention.

Large sections of the 6,200 crowd had already left when the last Sussex batsman was out.

Rory Hamilton-Brown's 36 was a lone act of lower-order defiance for the hapless hosts.

Kent had built the platform for a total in excess of 200 when they reached 86-2 after 10 overs, following Arafat's explosive innings and with skipper Rob Key starting to find his range.

But the Spitfires were never quite the same after Key holed out to deep mid-wicket in the 13th over for a run-a-ball 38 as Sussex's spinners applied a mid-innings squeeze.

Chris Liddle then took four wickets, but the resultant total ultimately proved more than enough.