BBC Sport looks at how Kent reached the final of the Friends Provident Trophy, where they will meet Essex at Lord's on 16 August. Group games
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals In a change to the 2007 format, the 18 first-class counties, plus Scotland and Ireland, were divided into four regional five-team divisions, with each team playing every other team in their division once. Unlike 2007, there was a quarter-final stage - with the top two teams in each division qualifying for the last eight - while the experiment allowing players to refer decisions to the TV umpire, which had been trialled in 2007, was scrapped. As it happened, both teams that qualified for the final came from the south-east division - so have already met each other twice in this competition this season.
SOUTH-EAST DIVISION MATCHES 20 April: Lost to Essex by 31 runs
As the competition began, Mark Pettini (119) and Ravi Bopara (99) helped Essex to 317-5 at Canterbury, but despite 124 from Martin van Jaarsveld and some clean hitting by Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat, Kent's reply fell short. 27 April: Lost to Middlesex by 6 runs (D/L)
A rain-affected match at Lord's saw Kent set 173 to win in 33 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis method, but despite 53 from van Jaarsveld, they needed 12 off the last over - in which Tim Murtagh (4-29) took three wickets. 4 May: Beat Sussex by 4 wickets
Justin Kemp led Kent to their first victory of the competition, hitting an unbeaten 68 as they overhauled Sussex's 245-6 off the penultimate ball at Hove. 5 May: Beat Surrey by 90 runs
Having been 52-4, Kent recovered at The Oval to record their second win in consecutive days - posting 282-7 thanks to Geraint Jones (86), Kemp (63) and Mahmood (62) before Ryan McLaren (5-46) and Arafat (4-36) ran through the home side. 11 May: Beat Sussex by 9 wickets
After Sussex made 218-9 at Canterbury, van Jaarsveld (109 not out) was in the runs again, seeing Kent home by nine wickets with the assistance of Joe Denly (83 not out). 16 May: Beat Essex by 106 runs
Kent moved top of the table, inflicting Essex's first defeat of the competition as Arafat (4-29) helped skittle the home side for 124 at Chelmsford. 18 May: Beat Surrey by 17 runs
A run-feast at Canterbury saw van Jaarsveld (113 not out) and Darren Stevens (119 not out) add 216 for the third wicket and Surrey captain Mark Butcher (139) hit back with a century before a late blast by Mahmood (4-40) saw off his former county. 26 May: No result (rain) v Middlesex
Torrential rain at Tunbridge Wells prevented a ball from being bowled - but it was enough to make certain of Kent's place in the quarter-finals. Essex's defeat by Middlesex two days later ensured Kent finished as group winners. Friends Provident Trophy: South East Division
QUARTER-FINALS 4 June: Beat Somerset by 37 runs
A century by Neil Dexter (101 not out), who added 104 for the second wicket with captain Rob Key (73), set Kent on their way at Beckenham. Arafat (3-23) was the pick of the six Kent bowlers, who all took wickets.
SEMI-FINALS 4 July: Beat Durham by 83 runs
 Van Jaarsveld has hit four centuries in the FP Trophy this season |
Friends Provident Trophy holders Durham were beaten on their home ground as centuries from van Jaarsveld (122 not out) and Denly (102) set Kent on the way to post 301-4 from their 50 overs at the Riverside - despite 4-47 from Steve Harmison. Kent struck early to leave the home side 2-2, but Paul Collingwood (36), Will Smith (56) and captain Dale Benkenstein (80 not out) all batted well before Durham dramatically collapsed. Spinner James Tredwell's 3-37 ripped through the lower order as the north-easterners were skittled for 218. The following day, Essex beat Yorkshire by 87 runs at Chelmsford.
Match report: Essex v Yorks semi-final Essex and Kent have also met each other three times in the Twenty20 Cup this season - with both teams recording a win apiece in the group stages, before Kent won by 14 runs when they met in the semi-finals.
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