A riveting final morning's cricket concluded with Kent gaining a notable victory and Martin van Jaarsveld setting a milestone for his county. Never before had a Kent player scored two hundreds and taken five wickets in an innings in the same match.

It was nothing less than a Herculean effort from the South African, who was on the field for all but 16 overs of the match. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever do this,” Van Jaarsveld said.

Outstandingly though Van Jaarsveld played, receiving crucial support from Geraint Jones on Wednesday in a sixth-wicket stand of 71 in 23 overs, Surrey were complicit in losing a match they should have won. Having batted badly on a turning pitch to be shot out for 130 by Van Jaarsveld, a part-time off spinnerwho had not bowled for Kent before this season, they then missed him twice - on 19 at slip off Abdul Razzaq and on Wednesday on 74 at short leg off Saqlain Mushtaq.

The former Pakistan off spinner said that he was “disappointed” with his bowling in the second innings on a pitch offering bounce and sharp turn.

If Surrey were unfortunate that Chris Schofield's groin strain restricted him to four overs in the second innings (and none on Wednesday), he was ineffective in the first. After Kent's capitulation in the first innings to Saqlain when no one apart from Van Jaarsveld made more than 26, he revealed that they had decided to play him differently. “We worked out our scoring areas off him and played with our bats more in front of our pads,” Saqlain said. Jones, sweeping effectively, looked composed against him.

Surrey also dropped Yasir Arafat on two at 232 for six when Razzaq, diving to his left at mid-off, could not hold on to a drive off Jade Dernbach. It was the young pace bowler who took the only wicket of the morning when Jones edged an attempted drive to the solitary slip. With Saqlain bowling unchanged from the pavilion, Razzaq, Usman Afzaal and Dernbach were rotated at the Vauxhall End by Mark Ramprakash.

Van Jaarsveld admitted he was surprised by Ramprakash's “bizarre” attacking shot that led to his first ball dismissal on the third afternoon, an expansive leg-side whip producing a catch for mid-wicket.

Alan Butcher, the Surrey coach, confessed that his side had not been batting well enough all season. “There was going to come at a time when Ramps was not scoring runs, and others were needed to put their hand up,” he said. “We lost the game with our collapse in the second innings.” Ramprakash, who made his 99th first-class hundred on May 3, has not passed fifty since.

Scoreboard

Surrey: First Innings 397 (J N Batty 136 not out, U Afzaal 57).

Second Innings 130 (S A Newman 72; M van Jaarsveld 5 for 33)

Kent: First Innings 270 (M van Jaarsveld 114 not out; Saqlain Mushtaq 5 for 79)

Second Innings
J L Denly c Newman b Collins 18
*R W T Key b Dernbach 0
J C Tredwell lbw b Collins 2
M van Jaarsveld not out 115
D I Stevens st Batty b Saqlain 63
J M Kemp c Spriegel b Saqlain 3
G O Jones c Brown b Dernbach 39
Yasir Arafat not out 13
Extras (b 3, lb 2, nb 2) 7

Total (6 wkts, 65.5 overs) 260

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-28, 4-123, 5-157, 6-228.

Bowling: Collins 11-2-44-2; Dernbach 12-0-58-2; Saqlain 23.5-1-86-2; Razzaq 10-2-31-0; Schofield 4-0-25-0; Afzaal 5-2-11-0.

Umpires: R J Bailey and J H Evans.