Kent avoid relegation after 8 wicket win at Worcester

Kent avoided relegation in the National League and condemned Worcestershire to Division Two instead with their eight-wicket victory in one-sided decider at New Road.

And the end-of-season figures confirmed a major shift in the fortunes of the two counties. Kent stayed up by winning five of their last six games but Worcestershire failed to win any of the last nine after holding an eight-point advantage at the top of the table in June.

The deflated hosts were dismissed in 36.3 overs for 98 - their lowest total of the summer - and the result was decided with more than 18 overs to spare when Kent cruised to 101 for two.

So there were entirely different send-offs for two players saying farewell to their counties after 19 seasons. Richard Illingworth was given only two token overs after Steve Marsh, a former Kent captain, had signposted the outcome with 38 from 67 balls.

Glenn McGrath did his best to revive Worcestershire, bowling for a time with an extraordinary field of six slips and a gully, but his only consolation came with numerous player of the year awards and a new League record for the best runs-per-over average.

James Hockley survived a slip chance in the Australian's second spell but stayed for an unbeaten 36 after hitting the winning boundary off Matthew Rawnsley.

Worcestershire were in early trouble against David Masters and Martin Saggers, who took the first three wickets for 17, and though Kent dropped three chances, Mark Ealham and Martin McCague continued the demoliton, each with figures of two for 15.