Ben Dawkins struck a sparkling maiden List A century to steer Kent Spitfires to their second Metro Bank One Day Cup victory of the season, beating a youthful Northamptonshire side by seven wickets at Wantage Road as they chased down 244 with 32 deliveries to spare.

The in-form England Under 19 opener struck an unbeaten 111 (105 balls, 12 fours, 2 sixes), sharing a second-wicket stand of 157 off 181 balls with Joey Evison who made a fine 82 (106 balls, 10 fours, 1 six).

Young guns Aadi Sharma and Stuart van der Merwe (37) starred with the bat for the Steelbacks in a stand of 75 off 87 balls characterised by rapid running between the wickets. Sharma made an excellent 82 (90 balls, 8 fours, 1 six), his maiden List A half-century.

Their stand came after Evison, who bowled his 10 overs straight through, removed Northamptonshire’s top order to finish with career best List A figures off three for 36.

Matt Parkinson took two for 50 as Northamptonshire suffered a middle order collapse, before some lower order hitting from Dom Leech (36 off 35 balls), but the hosts’ eventual total of 243 all out proved insufficient.

Earlier Luke Procter (15) was caught behind playing at a wide one from Evison. But Sharma was soon into his work, hooking and driving sweetly, although he rode his luck at times.

James Sales fresh from scores of 117 and 98, fell cheaply, adjudged lbw to one that kept low from Evison, while Northamptonshire lost a third when George Bartlett was caught behind off Evison, cutting close to his body.

That brought Sharma together with van der Merwe who tucked into Parkinson’s legspin, cutting through cover and swotting him over long-off for six.

van der Merwe reverse swept Jack Leaning, taking Northamptonshire past 100, while Sharma uppercut Corey Flintoff over the vacant slip region to reach 50 off 58 balls.

The drinks break brought a wicket when van der Merwe chipped Leaning straight to long-on, but Sharma continued to attack. He skipped down the pitch to deposit Leaning over extra cover and clipped Flintoff off his legs for six into the old signal box at deep square leg.

The tide turned as Parkinson made a double breakthrough, three wickets falling for five runs in 17 balls. First Parkinson bowled Lewis McManus round his legs before spinning one past off-stump to take the edge of Sharma’s bat through to the keeper. Next delivery Mohammad Rizvi trapped Rob Keogh plumb lbw.

With Northamptonshire 171 for seven, Leech found a good ally in debutant Aryaman Varma (30) in an enterprising stand of 59. Leech attacked the spinners, smiting Parkinson over midwicket before sweeping for six, while Varma deployed the cut shot to good effect.

Leech smashed Rizvi straight to bring up the 50 partnership before Jaydn Denly struck twice in two balls, bowling Leech as he attempted to reverse sweep before bowling Yuzvendra Chahal. Fred Klaassen picked up the final wicket, Varma well caught by a tumbling Flintoff at mid-off.

Dawkins started aggressively, punching several boundaries through the off-side and pulling Procter for a straight six. Denly (20) meanwhile sent a huge six flying over deep midwicket off Leech as Kent raced past 50 inside seven overs.

Scoring briefly slowed against spinners Nirvan Ramesh and Chahal with the opening stand of 58 ended by a sensational one-handed diving catch by van der Merwe at cover off Ramesh.

Dawkins reached 50 with a streaky boundary off Varma, while Evison collected boundaries against the spinners as he hit over extra cover, reaching his own half-century with a sumptuous cover drive off Leech.

Runs kept coming for Evison as he smashed over midwicket, while Dawkins reached his ton with elan, pulling van der Merwe over midwicket for six.

Evison crunched van der Merwe for a straight six before he holed out at long-on, Chris Benjamin following soon after in similar fashion off Keogh, but with the target in sight, Dawkins was there to see his side home.

Northamptonshire opener Aadi Sharma said: “It was a frustrating result, but to get out on the park with me, Stu [van der Merwe], Nirve [Nirvan Ramesh], Varms [Aryaman Varma], quite a lot of young lads out there, so it’s great experience. And I thought everyone went well. It’s just unlucky overall, I guess.

[On whether Ramesh is okay after being hit in the face while fielding and leaving the field after bowling four overs] “Yeah, I think just precautionary. But again, he looked good in his four overs. He’s a great young talent, and I think there’s a lot more to come from him.

[On batting with Luke Procter] “It’s great batting with Proccy. To have that experience at the other end, after every over, he’s able to come over and give me a bit of advice. So, I really enjoy batting with him. I think he’s been a big reason for a good run of form recently. So yeah, I’m happy with that.

[On bouncing back after a disappointing start to the competition] “I think I have to owe that to Boof [Darren Lehmann] for keep putting me in the team. I think a lot of other coaches probably wouldn’t have played me after those two games, but he showed faith in me, batted me again and batted me up top. I just thought I’d take my opportunities as best I could. And luckily, I’m in a bit of form. But the next game’s the next game.

[On his partnership with Stuart van der Merwe today] “Since he joined the club, me and him have got on really well. He’s actually staying at mine at the moment as well. So, a good mate of mine, and I also really enjoyed batting with him. I think it’s quite easy to run with him as well. We know what we’re doing.”

“We call really loud, and it’s quite easy with him. Annoying to get out the way he did. But the way we were batting, I thought we could get a big score there.”

“So frustrating from that part, He’s a cracking player, as you can see from the first two games he’s played, and he bowls a bit of offies as well. So, he’s a handy player to have, and what a catch he took! So, a great start to his career, so I wish him the best and I hope he can stay at the club.

“Experience is massive here. Like in these games, having a couple of games under your belt, it means those moments aren’t foreign to you. So, for me today, when we lost a couple of wickets, I was like, right, keep calm, you’ve just got to bat here, really.”

“So, I think having those games in the Champo as well, and being around the first team lads a lot recently has been an unbelievable addition to my game as well, just experience wise, and I’m reaping the rewards at the moment.

“It’s just keeping your emotions level, rather than up and down. It’s been quite an up and down season for me. So, to find a bit of form at the moment is quite nice. And I just want to keep carrying that on.”

Kent opener Ben Dawkins said: “It was amazing to be out there with the Kent boys this time [after playing at Northampton this summer for England Under 19s]. Credit to Jadyn Denly and Joey Evison. I thought they batted amazingly and made my job a lot easier. And then it was about seeing at home which luckily enough, I was able to do.

“Jaydn and I do try and be very positive [as an opening partnership]. We try and say, just play strong cricket shots, because obviously 50 overs is a long time to give ourselves a chance to get in and then capitalise late on in the powerplay.

[On the partnership with Evison] “It was very important for us to stay together, especially with Yuzi Chahal, who’s obviously a worldwide superstar. Just to stay together and try and take it deep, and then later on we were able to cash in. It was a very good batting pitch, we thought. So, we just said, give each other some time, and we can kick on later,

“I thought our spinners bowled really well. Obviously, Rizvi coming into the team, a lot of hard work over the years. So, he’s bowled absolutely fantastically. And Parky is just Parky, bowled so well for a number of years now.

[Having scored 85 in a winning cause last weekend against Lancashire and a century in another winning cause against Northamptonshire, does his form feel sweeter when Kent win?]  “Yeah [it does]. I think we’ve played really well as a team. It’s quite a young team, so we’re building up quite nicely. I think we’ve been quite unlucky some of the time, but I think we’re putting in great performances. So hopefully we can just carry that on [in] the last two games to go.”