LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Canterbury:
Kent 424 & 162, Durham 418 & 172-4
Kent 7 pts, Durham 23 pts
Match scorecard

Stokes smashed 42 not out from just 22 deliveries

Teenager Ben Stokes blasted 26 off one over to help Durham secure their second County Championship win of the season with a six-wicket win over Kent.

Stokes, 18, hit a six and five fours off part-time spinner Joe Denly and finished on 42 not out from 22 balls.

Ian Blackwell also played some big shots, making an unbeaten 53 from 60, as Durham cruised to victory.

The defending champions had resumed on 67-3, still needing another 102 runs, but lost Dale Benkenstein for 49.

Durham eased to within 52 of their target courtesy of a steady fourth-wicket stand of 80 between Benkenstein and Blackwell before he was caught by Martin van Jaarsveld at first slip after edging an attempted lofted drive at the left-arm spin of Rob Ferley.

Blackwell pulled his left calf muscle running a single to take his score to 46 and was joined by runner Scott Borthwick in order to post his half-century, with five fours and a six.

It was left to Stokes to win it in style with six consecutive boundaries in the only over of the day from Denly. Stokes took his match aggregate to an unbeaten 203 in the process and left Kent still without a win after 11 starts in all forms of cricket.

Kent captain Rob Key told BBC Radio Kent:
"We were probably just a few too many runs short. Obviously if we'd got 250 or 300 then we'd have been in the game, but with the bowling attack we had it was a few too short.

"There was a little bit of spin out there and we might have had a chance if we had got a couple of early wickets but unfortunately we just didn't bowl well enough.

"Makaya Ntini I thought bowled a really good spell but we just couldn't back him up.

"It's a shame because the last couple of games - when we had James Hockley get injured and missing James Tredwell has really cost us."

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