Wells comes out of retirement to save Kent

ALAN WELLS has played in a test match and Lord's finals. But he can rarely have sported a bigger smile than when, in the last over of Saturday's Kleinwort Benson County Challenge, he smacked the winning six over long on and exultantly thrust his bat skywards.

Wells, who retired from the county game for a couple of years after a long career with Sussex and Kent, had masterminded a last-wicket stand with fellow retiree Kevin Masters which dragged Kent towards the 27 runs the needed for victory over Somerset at the KGV when the pair came together.

A calculated assault on young spinner Durston had brought two sixes in his previous over.

With one big hit needed to secure victory, Wells just cleared the man on the fence - to the particular delight of Min Patel, next year's Kent beneficiary, who stands to swell his coffers by a few more pounds.

The game was a double triumph for Patel, twice capped by England, who missed the whole season with a back injury. He took wickets and made runs on Saturday afternoon and was obviously happy at the end of the game.

'Five overs out it was a lost cause,' he said afterwards. 'We were down to two retired players who played out of their boots. But if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.'

Patel also backed the concept of the game - two Twenty20 matches played back-to-back as a two-innings match, similar to the Cricket Max formula popular in New Zealand.

Indeed, Saturday's game put paid to the notion that these matches are often little more than social affairs with few players interested in the outcome.

O'Hara admitted that had been the case sometimes in recent years, but not on Saturday, a claim backed up by no less an authority than commentator Bill Frindall.

'The event has been superb,' said O'Hara. 'These two teams have been superb and the cricket has been good.'

Next year will be the 11th of professional cricket in the island, with one year given over to a England v. Rest of the World fixture.

O'Hara said the event would continue as long as the crowds came. 'We've changed the format this year and it's worked well. We'll just carry on until we don't get anybody coming here.'

Somerset batted first and made 182 in their first innings, with consistent contributions down the scorecard and three big sixes from England all-rounder Ian Blackwell, who was dropped twice.

Kent topped that with 201, with Matthew Banes making 48 and Alex Loudon 43. The latter then turned destroyer with the ball, as his occasional spin reaped five wickets as Somerset crashed, leaving Kent what seemed to be a simple matter of 137 to win.

Danish fast bowler Amjad Khan looked to have taken Kent most of the way to victory, but when Keith Dutch, who had come in for some heavy punishment at first, caused a wobble mid-innings, it was left to the two veterans to sew up the match with five balls to spare.