Date-stamped : 17 Sep95 - 22:20 SUNLG: Kent v Warwickshire, Canterbury, 17 September 1995 Kent change the wooden spoon for silverware By Christopher Martin-Jenkins Warwickshire beat Kent by 5 wickets A WOODEN spoon on Saturday; a silver trophy on Sunday: it was a singular weekend for Kent. Not only did they win the Axa Equity and Law Sunday League by default, and despite a five- wicket defeat by Warwickshire, they also finished bottom of the cham- pionship for the first time for exactly 100 years, finishing 205 points behind Warwickshire: less a gap than a chasm. But Kent are winners again, and that, in the end, is what matters. Their nerves were eased by the torrential rain at Wor- cester, which allowed them to take the League and the #35,000 first prize without needing to win yesterday. The crowd - a disappointing 6,000 - was given sparse information all after- noon over the public address and it was as a result of spec- tators listening to the radio that the Worcester abandonment was conveyed to a jubilant Matthew Fleming as he prepared to bowl the 18th over of the Warwickshire innings. To win a league, matches have to be won consistently and Kent have achieved that on Sundays. Nevertheless, their objective was to win yesterday for the 13th time to prove themselves worthy champions. Instead, having lost the toss, the best they could manage was a rate of 4.7 on a slow pitch. Nigel Llong`s wristy, orthodox striking apart, they batted with little method or gump- tion, and in the field they were overwhelmed at first by Warwickshire`s splendidly bold attempt to claim second place from a Worcestershire side cruelly relegated to third place (and prize-money #8,500 less) by the weather. Run-rates were feverishly being worked out in the Warwickshire dressing-room until a calm thinker pointed out that if there was no result at Worcester, all they had to do was to win. They seemed home and dry when Neil Smith opened the innings with 55 off 42 balls, striking nine boundaries before he cut Martin McCague to the wicketkeeper, but the wickets began to go down as the bowlers concentrated on a good length to restrict less weigh- ty hitters than Smith. From 81 for no wicket in the 12th over, Warwickshire slipped to 104 for four when Nick Knight mis-hit a drive to mid-on in the 21st. Dermot Reeve was in at the death again and he had returned the eye-catching figures in the Kent innings In his final match for the county, however, Roger Twose, cool and commanding, steered Warwickshire to their target with 10 balls in hand, and the fact is that Warwickshire missed a second succes- sive treble only because, earlier in the season, they lost two matches, to Worcestershire and to Durham, by two runs each. Dermot Reeve was in at the death again and he had returned the eye-catching figures in the Kent innings, but his only really significant wicket was that of Trevor Ward, lbw for three on the front foot after Fleming had been bowled. Mark Ealham was the first of three to be caught on the leg side, hitting in the air against Neil Smith`s deliberately very slow off-breaks and it was a surprise that Reeve did not call on his other slow bowler, Ash- ley Giles. Graham Cowdrey hit some fine shots despite his damaged finger, and later held a swirling catch running back towards the crowd at mid-wicket, but it was Llong`s good timing which gave Warwickshire something worthy to chase. His 51 came from only 48 balls. Had Kent not won their first title for 17 years in any of the four main competitions, and their first Sunday League for 19, there might have been some blood-letting. There may yet be. Daryl Foster, the Western Australian whose powers as a motivator have begun to seem unimportant beside his limitations as a technical coach, is in his third year of a five-year contract but there has been talk that he could be paid off. There have been mutter- ings, too, about Mark Benson`s apparently taciturn approach to leadership. Foster and Benson will argue that a trophy and a Lord`s final is success enough and, given the handicap of Benson`s absence in that final, and for four championship matches, they would surely be right. There are some good young batsmen in the second XI - Will House, Christopher Walsh and James Ford in particular - and patience should surely be the watchword when yesterday`s elation subsides and the championship campaign is analysed. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)