Disenchanted Kent captain Rob Key cut a despondent figure at Canterbury on Saturday night after seeing his side toss away their third limited overs title of the season and with it miss out on NatWest Pro40 League promotion.

Key had scored a magnificent unbeaten 120 in Kent's testing total of 246-5, but his bowlers were found wanting in the late run chase allowing Essex to romp home with an over to spare to claim the Division 2 title.

Key said: "It's a shame because I felt that was a decent score, but we probably weren't at our best.

"We were almost on top of the game until Grant Flower came out to bat, but his was a serious knock because it wasn't easy batting out there and he scored quicker than anyone. Without that, the game would have been ours.

"It's the second time he's done that to us now, maybe it's about time Essex started putting in some youngsters and we can see the back of him (Flower).

"He's been a pain, but credit to him because he played brilliantly. It was a different sort of knock in the Friends Provident final because he had to hang around that day, but today he had to score quickly and he managed to do that too."

Key added: "It has been the bridesmaid season for us, but I don't think we should accept that.

"We've effectively been in three finals, albeit this was in the second division, but this was a shame. Things like this we need to get off our backs, we need to start winning stuff so that next time you come around to it you're not thinking about it too hard."

Kent return to action in Liverpool on Wednesday with the scheduled start to their penultimate LV Championship match of the season against Lancashire at Aigburth.

A Kent win could bolster their championship title claims as well as push Lancashire a step closer to Division 2.