Sussex are in danger of elimination from the Royal London One Day Cup – after being sunk by a familiar face.

James Tredwell, who plays Championship cricket for Sussex, took 4-27 for Kent to spin them towards defeat tonight.

Kent retained their unbeaten tag and stretched their Group B lead to four points with a hard-earned 59-run success in a rain-affected clash at Canterbury.

A heavy shower during the break between innings coupled with a second shower early in the Sussex reply left the visitors in the driving seat when facing a revised target of 243 in 35 overs.

However, Tredwell’s seven-over stint restored Kent’s superiority and helped land a deserved fourth win and, with it, almost certainly, a home tie in the quarter finals.

Having restricted Kent to 299, the Sussex reply started uncertainly once Luke Wright (21) fell in the seventh over.

His rasping drive against Doug Bollinger picked out Ben Harmison diving to his left at cover point.

Three overs later, Chris Nash (24) feathered a Darren Stevens away swinger to slip just moments before rain arrived for the second time sparking the loss of a further ten overs.

After the resumption, Craig Cachopa got his side ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis rate for the first time with a brace of fours off Darren Stevens.

The 22-year-old right-hander undid his good work in the next over, however, lobbing a simple catch to mid-off against off-spinner Tredwell, who then trimmed the off stump of Ed Joyce (47) as the left-hander made room to cut.

Kent pushed further ahead under Duckworth-Lewis when Calum Haggett snared Matt Machan (13) lbw with the third ball of a new spell.

Then, when Mitch Claydon returned to rearrange Ben Brown's stumps, any lingering hopes of a Sussex win evaporated.

Batting first having lost the toss, Kent would have expected to post in excess of 320 after a reasonably bright start on a parched, white pitch that appeared conducive to batting.

The hosts had 36 on the board before acting captain Sam Northeast (20) instinctively followed and edged behind off a Lewis Hatchett leg-cutter that went down the St Lawrence.

Spitfires’ second-wicket partners Daniel Bell-Drummond and Harmison (33) repaired the damage with a stand of 69 in 13.1 overs that ended when Steffan Piolet’s slower ball fooled Harmison into chipping a catch to long-off. Fabian Cowdrey and Bell-Drummond then added 74 in 11.1 overs.