Date-stamped : 19 Jul95 - 14:29 SUNLG: Kent v Northamptonshire, Canterbury, 18 July 1995 Curran in full flow as Kent are swept away - Doug Ibbotson Northants (238-2) bt Kent (235-7) by 8 wkts KENT were tormented yesterday by a Northamptonshire side who, having beaten Lancashire to win their first AXA match of the sea- son nine days earlier, cruised to an eight-wicket victory in this rescheduled Sunday fixture. Still ruefully contemplating their cup defeat by the Red Rose county at Lord`s, Kent mustered a respectable 235 for seven but were subsequently put to the sword, notably by Kevin Curran, who recorded a maiden century in the competition. It came off 90 balls with 13 fours and a six and spurred Northamptonshire home with 3.1 overs to spare. Psychological factors were evident during the development of the Kent innings: back in their own parish and playing against a side struggling in the AXA competition, they made a contemplative start but, once in gear, accelerated in growing confidence. Yet there were brief alarms in the opening overs as David Fulton fenced a lifting ball from Curran gently to gully and Trevor Ward was also surprised by the kick of a delivery from Mark Bowen. Enter Avarinda de Silva to generous applause and the clear expec- tation of an innings to match his award-winning performance at Lord`s; in the event, after hitting five boundaries, he holed out on the long leg boundary for 33. At this point, Tony Penberthy, the bowler, was enjoying a fine, astringent spell and, having removed Nigel Llong with a yorker, twice beat Mark Ealham in the same over. Graham Cowdrey, meanwhile, had been easing himself into fluent form and now surged forward with a superb drive to the cover boundary off David Capel to bring up the hundred in the 22nd over. Ealham, with even greater belligerence, struck Jeremy Snape a long way over the crowd at long off and then drove and pulled Anil Kumble for consecutive boundaries. Accordingly, the partnership had realised 66 off 12 overs when Cowdrey, to vociferous self-disgust, played somewhat speculative- ly and was bowled by Kumble`s googly for 43. Ealham roared on, shedding Matthew Fleming at 181 but taking Kent past 200 with a brace of mighty sixes off Kumble and consecutive straight drives to the boundary off Curran. Northamptonshire, after losing Alan Fordham cheaply to Steve Marsh`s superb catch, romped off in pursuit. Aided by some agonising misfields - Richard Montgomerie dropped by Fulton at short midwicket - the second wicket pair had raised the total to 94 by the 21st over with Curran on 50 off 50 balls. When Montgomerie fell for 60, Northamptonshire required only 78 off 11 overs - a task within comfortable reach of Curran and Mal Loye, 39 not out. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)