Fabian Cowdrey has admitted to his disappointment in Kent Spitfires’ defeat to Surrey last night, despite the youngster’s own impressive showing.

21-year-old Fabian is a third-generation cricketer with a big reputation to live up to, as the son of Chris and the grandson of England and Kent legend Colin.

He was in impressive form in front of the Sky cameras on Wednesday night, hitting a career-best 55 in his first NatWest T20 Blast performance of the season. He then went on to take the wicket of Sri Lanka star Tillakaratne Dilshan with his left arm spin.

However, his own promising performances could not help the Spitfires from slipping to a hefty, eight-wicket defeat at The Oval, mainly due to the brilliance of Surrey opener Jason Roy, who hit a vicious 79 from just 46 balls.

“We were outplayed in the end by an outstanding Jason Roy performance”, Cowdrey told KSN after the game.

“They outplayed us in all facets, really. Their powerplay was superior to ours – Dilshan and Roy came together and took the game away from us.”

Cowdrey was a late call-up to the Kent XI for the match, with captain Rob Key ruled out shortly before the start of play with a tight hamstring.

“Keysy was obviously originally going to play, but he pulled his hammy against Gloucestershire, so he was always an uncertainty because of his injuries”, Cowdrey explained.

“It was a nice feeling to get called up last minute to play, but it was a shame for Keysy because he’s been going so well in the tournament.”

Cowdrey’s performance was a rare bright note on a tough night for the Spitfires, and the Canterbury-born youngster admitted that it was nice to impress in a season in which his first team chances have been limited.

Last night’s half-century was the second of his T20 career, having also reached the landmark in the corresponding fixture last season.

“It’s always nice to contribute”, he said, “and it was certainly nice to do that at The Oval. That was where my first T20 fifty was [last season], and it was nice to do it again this year. It’s a great place to play – there’s a great atmosphere and I certainly like playing there.

“It’s just a shame that we couldn’t get over the line – it would have made for a better day.”

With the game already seemingly up, Cowdrey picked the second wicket of his professional career, having Dilshan caught for 46, as the slow left-armer took impressive figures of 1-20 from his four overs.

“It was definitely nice to take away, but we’d already lost the game by the time I got that wicket”, the youngster admitted.

“He’s a fantastic international cricketer so to get him out was a special moment. It was a strange dismissal in the end – I think rather than me getting him out, he got himself out, but it was nice to have him in the book, anyway!”

 

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