Captain Richard Blakey ended Yorkshire's Championship season in a blaze of personal glory but he still left Headingley in a gloomy mood as his relegated team remained stuck permanently on the bottom of the table.

Although Kent inflicted upon the outgoing County Champions their eighth defeat of a depressing summer with a comfortable eight wicket victory, Blakey made sure the loyal home fans had something pleasurable to remember during the long nights of winter.

Coming in with Yorkshire on 74 for five and heading rapidly towards an innings defeat, Blakey powered his way to a gallant 94 and in the process completed 1,000 runs for the season.

It was a tremendous achievement by Blakey batting at No 7 and his final aggregate of 1,041 runs at an average of 47.32 was second only to Darren Lehmann's 1,136 at 66.82.

Blakey first topped the 1,000 mark in 1987 and the 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman has now achieved the feat five times, the last occasion being eight years' ago.

Yorkshire were still 107 runs in arrears when Blakey came to the crease and he set out his stall to knock off the 53 he still required to make it to the landmark. He was determined, also, that Yorkshire should be spared the embarrassment of an innings defeat and his shots packed an extra punch as he went about his work, first in a 73 stand with Craig White and then a 98 partnership with Richard Dawson.

Blakey struck Min Patel for a straight six before cover driving the next ball for four to complete his half-century and go to four figures with the same stroke. He marched into the 90s by sweeping James Tredwell from outside off-stump for six but on 94 he made thin contact with a cut at David Masters after facing 140 balls and striking 14 fours and two sixes.

Sportsman that he is, Blakey threw back his head in despair and then walked off without waiting for a signal from the umpire.

Yorkshire's fate had been sealed with the first ball of the morning from Martin Saggers which Matthew Elliott drove off a thick edge to Patel who held a fast catch at gully.

Anthony McGrath and Scott Richardson departed in Amjad Khan's opening burst and the fifth wicket went down when Gary Fellows drove injudiciously at Saggers and was caught behind.

White had six crisp boundaries in his 48 while Dawson cracked eight well executed fours before being bowled for 47 for the second time in the match.

Yorkshire's fightback left Kent to make 103 to win and although they began their innings in poor light, Rob Key and Paul Nixon were there to take them to victory.

There was even more glum news for Yorkshire after leaving the field - the umpires had docked them one-and-three-quarter points for bowling their overs too slowly.

* Yorkshire are hoping to begin discussions with England paceman Darren Gough over a new contract in the next few weeks. Gough, whose contract is due for renewal, has been hampered by knee injuries over the past year.