Loan signing Mitchell Claydon was bowled over by the spirit shown in the Kent camp as they beat the odds and Sussex Sharks on Wednesday night.

Claydon was drafted into the YB40 side for the first time since he signed on loan initially for a month as the Spitfires took on the Sharks at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

It was with the bat that Claydon played a significant part smashing his first ball faced for six with Kent still needing 14 off 14 balls.

In the end, the Spitfires chased down 337 to beat the Sharks by three wickets, securing the greatest ever run chase in 40 over history and Claydon was thrilled to have played a part in the game:

“It was so entertaining and definitley with a run chase like that, no one remembers how you bowled, so it was good for all the bowlers!”

“I thought they were going to get 400 at one stage. With the short boundary, the good wicket and the quick outfield, your margin for error was so small, so what Stevo and Sam Northeast did there was something you’ll go years again to see anything like that.”

“Sam’s innings was pure class batting through like that and he didn’t really need to do anything with the way Stevo played.”

The on loan Durham man went on to explain how he had chatted in the dressing room with the rest of the Kent players before coming out at number eight and how he intended to smash the ball from the off:

“It was in my area and the spinner was only ever going to go one way. It came out of the screws and I started to smile. I said to Jonah (Geraint Jones) that if I hit the winning runs I was going to do a lap of the field, but he then ran me out!”

“When you only need 14, if you can hit a big blow, it puts a big dent in the target. I knew Nash was going to bat, so I said I would have a crack at it especially against the spinner with the short boundary.”

“It paid off coming out of the middle!”

Claydon is expected to keep his place in what will be a youthful Kent Spitfires side as they take on New Zealand in the Twenty 20 fixture at Canterbury on Saturday night.

Pictures supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com