Friends Provident Trophy round-up

Porterfield helps down Warwickshire

Cricinfo staff

May 16, 2008

Ireland 212 for 6 (Porterfield 69) beat Warwickshire 211 for 7 (Frost 56) by four wickets
Scorecard

William Porterfield played a captain's innings to lead Ireland to a notable victory against Warwickshire. He made a well-paced 69 off 110 balls as they reached the target of 212 with 20 balls to spare.

The result adds to Warwickshire's problems, the team have struggled badly in this year's Friends Provident trophy and this defeat won't help to appease the unhappy members who made their feelings known following last week's loss to Northamptonshire.

Instead of the trip to Stormont being a chance to get back to winning ways Warwickshire came unstuck as the top order collapsed to 93 for 5. Tony Frost's 56 and an unbeaten 47 from Michael Powell hauled them over 200, but the home side paced their chase expertly.

Reinhardt Strydom's 30-ball 35 provided the ideal start, allowing Porterfield to anchor the innings. Warwickshire chipped away and when Gary Wilson fell to Neil Carter the match was still in the balance at 132 for 4. But Andrew White and Kevin O'Brien offered important support to Porterfield, who fell 16 runs short of victory. O'Brien and Kyle McCallan finished the job without any further alarms and Warwickshire will fly back home with their tails between their legs.

Kent 230 for 7 (Kemp 51) beat Essex 124 (Arafat 4-29) by 106 runs
Scorecard

A destructive early burst from Yasir Aarfat consigned Essex to a crushing 106-run defeat at Chelmsford. He ripped out the top order to leave the home side floundering and his scalps included Ravi Bopara for a first-ball duck.

Essex sank to 80 for 8 as Robbie Joseph and Simon Cook played their part and the innings came to end in the 26th over.

Kent's 230 was built around a series of useful performances, lead by Justin Kemp's 86-ball 51 and 41 from captain Robert Key. Bopara and Graham Napier shared six wickets, but the total proved more than enough.

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