Kent 254 for 5 (Finch 85, Benjamin 55*, Procter 3-44) beat Northamptonshire 253 (McSweeney 58, Vasconcelos 55, Bartlett 54, Stewart 3-33, Singh 3-50) by five wickets

Kent beat Northamptonshire by five wickets in Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Canterbury thanks to half-centuries from Harry Finch and Chris Benjamin.

Finch top-scored with 85 and despite 3 for 44 from Luke Procter, Kent eased home with two overs remaining, Benjamin finishing with an unbeaten 55.

Earlier Northants were dismissed for 253, with 11 balls remaining from their 50 overs. Ekansh Singh took three wickets in five balls to finish with figures of 3 for 50, while Grant Stewart took 3 for 33. Three Northants batters got out in the 50s: Nathan McSweeney made 58, Ricardo Vasconcelos 55 and George Bartlett 54.

Kent chose to bowl in front of a crowd of over 2,000, but didn't really threaten until Singh put down a caught-and-bowled chance off Vasconcelos when he was on 39. It was 75 without loss when Stewart broke through, getting Gus Miller caught by Jaydn Denly at square leg for 18.

Stewart then had Rob Keogh caught by Sam Northeast for eight at cover, before Matt Milnes took a brilliant diving catch to remove Vasconcelos at square leg.

Bartlett and McSweeney put on 116 for the fourth wicket, the partnership only broken when Singh got both of them in the 41st. McSweeney hit him to Ben Dawkins at long-on and three balls later he bowled Bartlett.

With the first ball of his next over Singh bowled Lewis McManus for 2, and Milnes then had Aadi Sharma caught by Daniel Bell-Drummond for 8.

Procter went for 19, bowled behind the back of his legs by Matt Parkinson and the visitors were all out when Dom Leech was lbw to Keith Dudgeon for 8.

Procter struck in the fourth over of Kent's chase to bowl Ben Dawkins for 5. The very next ball, to Northeast, flashed through the slip cordon, but Northeast had only made 10 when he was caught and bowled by Procter.

Northants scented blood when Yuzi Chahal bowled Bell-Drummond for 47 with one that nipped back up the slope, but the momentum shifted when Finch reached 50 with a six off Procter over square leg, before mowing Miller for two more maximums in the 33rd.

Benjamin was on 17 when he flicked Guthrie to backward square, but Procter put down a simple chance and Finch edged the next ball for four through slips.

Benjamin cashed in by creaming Chahal for six over midwicket, but their partnership of 96 was broken when Chahal got Finch lbw.

Denly came in and maintained the pressure by hitting Keogh for six over midwicket, before miscuing Chahal over the point boundary, but he was bowled for 17 by Procter.

Singh steadied the nerves with an unbeaten 18 from 18 and Benjamin passed 50 with a cut that flew just past Sharma at backward point, before seeing Kent home with a driven two off Miller.