JIM HOWGEGO scored an unbeaten century to guide Kent to an eight-wicket victory against Surrey in the ECB National 50-Plus County Championship at Horsham.

The Folkestone veteran of so many Kent League campaigns batted with all the confidence and concentration of his heyday to score 112 not out in Kent's winning total.

It was the 149th hundred of Howgego's remarkable club cricket career, and for many of the Kent spectators present, his ton was one of the most important he has ever scored in steering the county to their fourth trophy win in this competition in seven years.

The result never looked in doubt from the moment Howgego and Keith Wooding, the Gravesend batsman, set about chasing down Surrey's total of 250-3 from

45 overs.

They put on 74 for Kent's first wicket before Wooding went for 24 in the 16th over. But Holmesdale batsman Mark Taylor maintained the run-rate with an aggressive half-century, highlighted by the three successive boundaries he struck in one over of his innings of 51.

By the time Taylor departed, Kent were sprinting towards their target, which was achieved in a match-winning partnership between the admirable Howgego and Ian Linstead, the batsman-wicket-keeper from Leigh, who was unbeaten on 39 when the winning runs were scored with more than three overs to spare.

Earlier, Surrey's total had been restricted by the canny left-arm spin of Chris Mendham, whose nine overs cost only 27 runs with one wicket to his credit.

Match hero Howgego, aged 59, whose ambition is to score 150 hundreds in club cricket before he retires, said afterwards: "It was a great win on a wonderful batting pitch.

"We always thought we could reach the target with Surrey 30 runs shy of a competitive total on that track.

"I was thinking about retirement at the end of this season. Maybe, I'll have to bat on next season to reach the 150th century I would love to achieve."