Kent opened their pre-season campaign with a 21 run defeat against Middlesex at Beckenham on Friday afternoon.

In a game that was played under CB40 rules, Middlesex amassed 257 for 4 in their 40 overs, with Kent coming up just short at 236 for 6 in reply.

Kent had won the toss in the glorious sunshine, inviting Middlesex to bat first and initially runs were hard to come by for their opening batsmen Sam Robson and Dawid Malan.

Robson was the first to go with the score on 29, edging Charlie Shreck to Alex Blake at first slip, but Malan and Adam London repaired the early damage by posting just short of a century partnership.

London was eventually out for 40, surprisingly out lbw to Sam Northeast who will surely not see a lot of the ball for the forthcoming season.

Former Kent batsman Neil Dexter was the next man to go as he was caught by Ben Harmison at short extra cover for 37 off the bowling on Matt Coles.

Meanwhile, Malan continued to plunder the Kent attack, bringing up his century off just 98 balls, eventually falling for 128 as he was caught at deep cover by Alex Blake to give Charlie Shreck his second wicket of the day.

Tom Scollay put on an unbeaten eighteen whilst John Simpson hit the last ball of the innings for four as Middlesex posted their daunting target.

Kent’s reply got off to a reasonable start before Sam Billings was caught at the wicket by John Simpson off the bowling of Steven Crook for 19.

Alex Blake came in at three, supporting skipper Rob Key in a century stand as the pair looked calm at the crease, but Blake was eventually out for 58 caught at short extra cover by Dawid Malan off Tom Smith’s bowling.

New signing Michael Powell was to bat at number four, and he was at the wicket when Key brought up his fifty, but the pair were facing scoring 100 runs off the last ten overs.

They slowly worked the ball around to get the target down, but Powell was out clean bowled by Toby Roland-Jones for 30.

Needing to up the run rate, Key set about the Middlesex bowlers, but his demise came just six runs short of his century when he pulled the ball straight to Sam Robson at square leg off Robbie Williams.

Needing 44 runs off the final three overs after the batting powerplay, Kent were to lose Matt Coles for five and Sam Northeast for 15, finally coming up short by 21 runs.

In the end, the result matters very little as Kent look to build their fitness levels ahead of the new season.

Their next game is against Glamorgan at Canterbury on Tuesday in a One Day game, with the two sides playing a two day game at Canterbury beginning on Wednesday.

Kent line up: Rob Key, Sam Billings, Alex Blake, Michael Powell, Matt Coles, Sam Northeast, Ben Harmison, Ashley Shaw, Adam Riley, Charlie Shreck, Mark Davies.

Middlesex line up: Neil Dexter, Steven Crook, Anthony Ireland, Adam London, Dawid Malan, Sam Robson, Ollie Rayner, Toby Roland-Jones, Tom Scollay, John Simpson, Tom Smith.

Picture by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures visit www.sarahcanterbury.com