By Martin Smith

Essex made heavy weather of scoring the 30 runs required to beat Kent by seven wickets and secure their fourth successive County Championship victory.
It needed Paul Walter to keep his head when others around him were losing theirs and stroke the winning runs 23 balls into what turned into a more difficult run chase than necessary.
Earlier, Essex needed eight overs before breaking the stubborn overnight partnership, but once Qadri departed to a smart catch at short square leg by Simon Harmer the innings collapsed in just six balls. Sam Cook added a second of the morning ...