A spirited rearguard from the Surrey tail, which was marshalled superbly by Stuart Meaker, delayed the victory that everybody expected Kent to complete yesterday. But rather than the game being over by lunch, which, judging by the size of the crowd, was what most people were anticipating, the Division Two leaders did not walk off with the spoils until 5.54pm. Meaker, making only his sixth first-class appearance, hit an unbeaten 64 off 200 balls as Surrey added 145 to their inauspicious overnight score. With Kent chasing a target of 200 off a minimum of 38 overs, it was Meaker, again, who caused them one or two doubts, when the 20-year-old fast bowler accounted for both openers in the fifteenth over. But, fittingly, it was left to Geraint Jones and Darren Stevens, whose fourth wicket partnership in the first innings had first set Kent on their way, to all but wrap things up.

Resuming on 148-5, Surrey lost Chris Schofield in the sixth over of the day, when the former England leg-spinner pushed forward to Amjad Khan and got an inside edge on to his middle stump. Eight overs later, Meaker was handed a life, on 24, when Rob Key put down a chance at short mid-wicket off James Tredwell. Meaker celebrated the reprieve by forcing Phil Edwards past mid-off off the back foot for four to put the visitors 101 runs ahead.

In the 63rd over, Meaker drove Edwards straight down the ground for another boundary. But six overs later, Justin Kemp got a short ball to hurry on to Jade Dernbach, who looped a catch to cover point. But that was to be followed by 29 overs of defiance from Meaker and Tim Linley.

Meaker went to his second half-century in as many matches, in 167 deliveries, with his first boundary in 28 overs, a pull off Edwards for four. Two overs later, Meaker swung the 25-year-old to the rope at long-leg.

In the 94th over, Linley survived a raucous appeal for caught behind off Khan, but, four overs later, Tredwell took a sharp chance at third slip to see the back of the former Sussex man.

With Pedro Collins giving Kemp the long handle treatment, Surrey, even without Mark Ramprakash's services, were able to set their hosts a target that had the potential to be challenging. But thanks to Key and Sam Northeast, Kent's first wicket produced 90 runs.

Key brought up his fifty in the fourteenth over with a straight six off Schofield. But, in the next, Northeast flicked Meaker to short mid-wicket before his captain was trapped leg before to a ball that appeared to keep low.

With the home side needing just 90 off the last twenty overs, the game was as good as over two overs later when Martin van Jaarsveld pulled a long-hop from Schofield for four and followed it up with a maximum, straight down the ground.

Van Jaarsveld, who had hit five hundreds in six matches against Surrey prior to this encounter, was caught at short fine-leg when the ball ricocheted off his boot in Matthew Spriegel's first over.

But Jones and Stevens then combined for 55 in ten overs. The former perished with just fifteen runs needed for victory - attempting to go to his half-century with a six, but, instead, handing Surrey's under pressure wicketkeeper, Jonathan Batty, his first and only dismissal of the match.

The result gives Kent a 28-point lead, with a game in hand over their nearest challengers, at the top of the Division Two table. But, as if to underline, how close the race for the other promotion place is looking, Surrey, in seventh are just 20 points shy of Essex, who are second.

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