Teenage Roy stuns Kent with century

Surrey 201 for 4 beat Kent 157 for 8 by 44 runs
Scorecard

Surrey's teenage batsman Jason Roy hit the first Twenty20 hundred by a Lions batsman since the short-form format started eight seasons ago to ease his side to a 38-run win over lacklustre Kent.

In a one-sided Friends Provident t20 derby at Beckenham, Surrey cantered to 201 for four - one more than they posted at the Oval against Hampshire 24 hours earlier - courtesy of an unbeaten 101 by 19-year-old Roy. A tight bowling display coupled with athletic fielding then restricted the hosts to 183 for eight, allowing Surrey to rack-up their fifth win from nine outings, while inflicting a sixth defeat in eight for the troubled Spitfires.

Batting first having won the toss, resurgent Surrey lost their skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown for six in the third over when he miscued a straight drive into the hands of mid-wicket. Thereafter Roy and Steven Davies laid solid foundations for the visitors with a second-wicket stand worth 78 in nine overs. Davies, backing away to leg to make room for his expansive drives over the off-side field, hit 42 from 28 balls with five fours and a six.

The left-hander's stay ended when he chipped to deep mid-wicket. Younus Khan was next man out for eight when he drove straight to long-off to bring together Roy and the man they nickname 'Roy', Australian Andrew Symonds, for a sublime fourth-wicket stand of 63 in five overs.

Though muscular and hard-hitting himself, there were times when former Kent all-rounder Symonds could only watch and admire the clean hitting of former Whitgift School prodigy, Roy. Hitting with immense power off front and back foot, he cleared the ropes five times and plundered 11 boundaries to coast to a 56-ball hundred in only his third Twenty20 game and the sixth limited-overs game of his career.

Though Symonds skied a return catch to Matt Coles to go for 31from only 16 balls, Roy saw it through to the final over to ink his name into the Surrey record books. Kent's response started dismally when both Rob Key and Geraint Jones nicked loose drives to keeper Davies, Chris Tremlett accounting for both men.

Darren Stevens, Kent's form player so far this term, reached seven before he thumped a back-foot force into the hands of Chris Schofield in the covers. Azhar Mahmood then fell for 34, skying to the same fielder as Symonds moved toward a haul of five for 18 against his former side.

Though Martin van Jaarsveld moved to a swift half-century - and ultimately to 82 from 49 balls - the asking rate soared beyond 18 moving into the final five overs. Unsurprisingly that target proved well beyond the compass of the misfiring Spitfires.