Kent Spitfires kicked off their 2014 NatWest T20 Blast campaign in style with a stunning 42-run win against Somerset at Taunton on Friday evening.

In a game that was reduced to 13 overs per-side due to rain, the Spitfires top order hit an incredible 164-5 from their allocation, with Daniel Bell-Drummond making a superb maiden T20 half-century and Rob Key and Darren Stevens both smashing excellent, quickfire knocks.

In reply, the home side, who were the favourites going into the game, never looked like being able to mirror the Spitfires’ batting assault, and as it was they saw themselves fall well short of their target of 165, meaning Kent picked up their first win of their T20 campaign at the first time of asking.

Once the rain in the West Country had subsided, Somerset won the toss and asked Kent to batwhen play got underway around an hour and a half after the scheduled time.

Daniel Bell-Drummond and skipper Rob Key were selected to open the batting for the Spitfires, and the pair got their side off to the perfect start.

Having taken 19 runs from the first two overs, they then smashed 22 from the third, bowled by Alfonso Thomas, one of the most revered T20 bowlers in the country, including a paddle-sweep from Key for his side’s first six of their innings.

The 50-partnership was brought up in the fifth over thanks to a maximum from Bell-Drummond, and 16 runs came off the sixth, as the pair continued to pepper the boundary, with Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick attempting to rotate his bowlers to no avail.

The opening stand of 85 was ended in the next over, as T20 debutant Craig Overton trapped Key lbw for a 22-ball 46, but by that time the Kent captain had helped set up the innings perfectly for his side, with a knock that had included four fours and two sixes.

Darren Stevens was promoted up the order as Kent looked to keep their foot on the accelerator, and that is exactly what they did; the all-rounder finding the boundary with the first two balls he faced.

Both batsmen kept the run rate flying; the ball heading to the boundary with alarming regularity for the home side. Another 20 runs were added in the eighth over of the innings, bowled by leg-spinner Max Waller, and Bell-Drummond brought up his first T20 fifty in the tenth, by the end of which Kent had already reached 142-1.

Kent did wobble slightly in the final two overs of their innings, as they added just seven runs and lost four wickets, including both Bell-Drummond (59 off 30) and Stevens (47 off 20) to Dirk Nannes in the penultimate over, but still set Somerset an imposing 165 from 13 overs at the turnaround.

Openers Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter made a reasonable start in the home side’s reply, taking 18 off the first two overs, before Darren Stevens, having opened the bowling, had Trescothick (3) well caught by a running Adam Ball in the third.

Doug Bollinger bowled Peter Trego after being hit for consecutive boundaries, before Bell-Drummond and Stevens each rounded off excellent all-round performances, the youngster taking a stunning one-handed catch on the long-on boundary off the all-rounder’s bowling. Alviro Petersen was the man to go this time, leaving the home side 39-3 in the fifth and Stevens with great figures of 2-14 from his three overs.

Kieswetter was now joined in the middle by James Hildreth, and for a while it looked like they might threaten Kent’s score as they added 52 together, but realistically they were never really scoring quickly enough to really worry the visitors.

Hildreth (58 not out) would go to a half-century in the final over, with Kieswetter already having been caught by Stevens off Bollinger for 40, before the Australian took his third wicket with three balls left in the innings when he had Overton (7) pouched by Ball.

Somerset eventually closed on 122-5, leaving the Spitfires celebrating a 42-run win that starts them up perfectly for the rest of their NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

Their next match in the competition sees the Spitfires welcome Gloucestershire to Canterbury next Friday night (30 May), but before then they face Worcestershire in an LV= County Championship game at Tunbridge Wells, starting this Sunday (25 May).

 

Somerset vs. Kent Spitfires, NatWest T20 Blast, South Division, the County Ground, Taunton, 23 May 2014

Kent 164-5 (Bell Drummond 59, Stevens 47, Key 46, Nannes 2-15) beat Somerset 122-5 (Hildreth 58 not out, Kieswetter 40, Bollinger 3-36) by 42 runs

Somerset: Trescothick*, Kieswetter†, Trego, Petersen, Compton, Hildreth, C Overton, Thomas, Waller, Dockrell, Nannes

Kent Spitfires: Bell-Drummond, Key*, Stevens, Billings, Northeast, Blake, Riley, Ball, Claydon, Griffiths, Bollinger

Somerset won the toss and elected to field

Full scorecard available here